YomiHustle/Wizard

Overview

Strategy

Combos

Links

Profile

Wizard is a setup and projectile zoning character. They can use their projectiles to cut off their opponent's options, and then call out a risky option with one of their ranged pokes, or play tricky with air movement to take the opponent by surprise.

Strengths

Weaknesses

Flexible Projectiles: Flame Wave and Vile Clutch are unparryable area denial tools, while Spark Bomb and Magic Dart can be used to close off options in combination with gust. Mental Stack: Wizard can threaten a lot of different spaces at the same time. Trying to find a way to deal with their various setups and projectiles can leave your opponent open to getting hit by an option they should have seen coming. Great Air Mobility: Hover and Fast Fall can be mixed with attacks or other movement options like Missile Form and Double Jump to make your movement highly unpredictable. Chip Damage: Wizard has a number of tools to lock the opponent into blocking on okizeme, forcing them to take a large amount of chip damage. Combo Game: Wizard can often go for high damaging combos that are resistant to DI or sacrifice a bit of damage to make their combos completely burst safe using Orb and other projectiles.

Weak Close Range: The lack of a 4f jab and no combos off grab leave wizard vulnerable to getting pressured up close. Decent Ground Mobility: Wizard's dash is slower than Ninja's, making them less mobile while on the ground in comparison, however, once they gain momentum, they can maintain it using Hover. Feeds Meter: A lot of Wizard's projectile options can end up giving the opponent free meter if not used carefully. Meter Hungry: Orb, arguably Wizard's strongest neutral tool, isn't available until Wizard has at least 3 bars of meter, and drains meter constantly while it's out, meaning you can actually lose meter while you're being comboed.

Wizard

Move List

Movement

Dash

Dash	Damage Startup Active First Actionable Frame Advantage * Guard Proration Block Advantage - - - 8-15 - - 0 - Always interruptible when opponent is able to act. IASA increases as the speed slider is increased.
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Back Dash

Back Dash	Damage Startup Active First Actionable Frame Advantage * Guard Proration Block Advantage - - - 9 - - 0 - Always interruptible when opponent is able to act. Does not become actionable if opponent uses forward movement.
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Super Dash

Super Dash	Damage Startup Active First Actionable Frame Advantage * Guard Proration Block Advantage - - - 25 - - 0 - Interruptible on the opponent's turn. If interrupted during the "charge up" animation, it will give your next backdash or forward dash much more momentum, which can allow for super fast approaches or backdashes that escape more moves than normal.
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Jump

Jump	Damage Startup Active First Actionable Frame Advantage * Guard Proration Block Advantage - - - 8-15 - - 0 - Short jumps are 8f to act. Grounded large jumps are 11f to act, but are upped to 15f if jumping straight up or backwards. In the air, large jumps are always 11f.
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Super Jump

Super Jump	Damage Startup Active First Actionable Frame Advantage * Guard Proration Block Advantage - - - - - - 0 -
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Hover & Fall

Hover & Fall	Damage Startup Active First Actionable Frame Advantage * Guard Proration Block Advantage - - - - - - 0 - Start floating in air or swiftly falling with a press of a button! Allows to extend air combos Great for messing with opponents predictions
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Grounded Normals

Tome Slap

Tome Slap slapslapslapslapslapslap slapslapslapslapslapslap	Damage Startup Active First Actionable Frame Advantage * Guard Proration Block Advantage 800 5 3 12 - High 0 - Gives forwards momentum on use Wizard's fastest grounded normal. Can beat some unexpected moves with good spacing and momentum, and is a great combo starter, but is rather risky to use in some matchups, namely Cowboy whose two favorite buttons (Spot Dodge and Pommel) both beat it out.
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Mana Strike

Mana Strike best poke in the game :D best poke in the game :D

Ground Damage Startup Active First Actionable Frame Advantage * Guard Proration Block Advantage 600 6 1 16 - High 1 - Knockback direction changes based on which side of the opponent the blast hits on (inwards hit is always better) Fast poke with medium range, beats everything that lacks priority or high momentum at this range. Can be angled at around 70 or so to trade with Cowboy's Horizontal Slash. Very strong as an air-to-ground when used with fastfall, but can sometimes lose to greedy options like cowboy's Stinger for a devastating punish. Drops your combo on DI down at higher scalings, so if you have a choice between this and something like missile form late in the combo, take the other option.

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Kick

Kick	Damage Startup Active First Actionable Frame Advantage * Guard Proration Block Advantage 600 7 13 25 - Low -1 - Low profile from frames 7-25. Summons lightning when used with orb. Decent range but very slow sweep kick. Very long active frame window can let you meaty with it on getup and still hit if they held on the ground.
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Conjure Storm

Conjure Storm First Hit First Hit Second Hit Second Hit

Damage Startup Active First Actionable Frame Advantage * Guard Proration Block Advantage 900,900 12,16 3,3 26 - High -1 - Wall splats. Summons lightning when used with orb. A fairly high damaging move with good proration, covers both sides of wizard. Amazing in combos for its damage, corner carry, and property of keeping foes grounded (which removes a lot of variables in accounting for DI). Try to land only the second hit unless it's early on in the combo, as this makes the knockback and hitstun more predictable.

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Conjure Weapon

Conjure Weapon when the CW hits just right when the CW hits just right

Damage Startup Active First Actionable Frame Advantage * Guard Proration Block Advantage 1400 11 3 22 - High - - Projectile immunity and 1 hit of armor starting on frame 7. Wall splats. Summons swords when used with orb. Slow armored move used to call out slower attacks and blocks. Really good in wall combos but you've got better routes anywhere else. Its slow startup can actually be helpful, as it gives it a long effective range when used with spark bomb momentum or from very high-up fastfalls. High damage in combos, but requires meter (instant cancel into vile clutch) to follow up on if they DI well and are not at the corner.

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Icicle

Icicle In the words of a certain gear, "Slash!" In the words of a certain gear, "Slash!"

Damage Startup Active First Actionable Frame Advantage * Guard Proration Block Advantage 1000 7 3 17 - Low 0 - Summons swords when used with orb. Gives forwards momentum on use A big, active low that's good for intercepting players trying to close distance. Also has a surprisingly good recovery. Anything that beats your grab will get beat by this, so it can serve as a risky but rewarding shorthop/spotdodge read.

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Bolt of Magma

Bolt of Magma Out of my air space. Out of my air space.

Damage Startup Active First Actionable Frame Advantage * Guard Proration Block Advantage 1000(600)(600) 6 2 13 - High 0 - Here's your government mandated anti-air. Absurdly safe recovery lets you get away with not free cancelling this pretty often. Not really worth using in combos when compared to the superior backblast, but throwing it out in neutral against airborne opponents is often completely free.

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Grab

Grab	Damage Startup Active First Actionable Frame Advantage * Guard Proration Block Advantage 900 3 3 23 - Throw 0 - Universal throw. Has significantly higher knockback than other character's throws, making it a good tool to buy time while you setup projectiles or Draw Moisture. It doesn't give very good oki for much the same reason, though, so if you land an air grab do down throw to facilitate that.
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Aerials

Mana Kick

Mana Kick Divekick at home: Divekick at home:

Damage Startup Active First Actionable Frame Advantage * Guard Proration Block Advantage 700 8 5 20 - High 0 - Summons lightning when used with orb. Pseudo-divekick. Doesn't see a ton of use in combos due to the existence of Missile Form and Combustion, but is pretty DI resistant and can force a ground bounce which can be good sometimes. Fastfall land-cancelling this will let you spam orb lightning really fast and can be a great way to put up a dangerous wall in neutral.

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Icicle

Icicle (air) Arguably the best air normal in the game Arguably the best air normal in the game

Damage Startup Active First Actionable Frame Advantage * Guard Proration Block Advantage 900 5 2 15 - High 0 - Summons swords when used with orb. Fast and slaps your opponent diagonally to the floor, go-to air combo button. Also serving an amazing air-to-air and even air-to-ground when used with fastfall, air icicle really does it all. This move is the main reason why you want to be in the air a lot in neutral, as it can even beat out 4f jabs like pommel or punch if spaced just right.

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Combustion

Combustion KABOOM! KABOOM!

Damage Startup Active First Actionable Frame Advantage * Guard Proration Block Advantage 1150 9 1 20 - High 0 - Wall splats. Sends your opponent straight up with high hitstun, which can be severely punishing if your opponent DI'd down expecting an icicle. Even if they DI up, this move has high damage and is usually very easy to continue off of using gusts, jumps, and bhops, making it one of your best combo tools.

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Specials

Magic Dart

Magic Dart

Damage Startup Active First Actionable Frame Advantage * Guard Proration Block Advantage 500 9 - 14 - High 0 - Air OK Free cancellable Can aim and modify speed of projectile on cast. Tracks forever until it hits your opponent, allowing it to threaten a wide variety of spaces in neutral. Shooting it at a slower angle will make it much harder to parry. Darts help you out a lot in neutral and allow you to threaten Gust very well, but don't go crazy spamming them as you normally have better things to do and particularly Cowboy players will quickly catch on and punish you with Quick Draw.

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Confusing Touch

Confusing Touch

Damage Startup Active First Actionable Frame Advantage * Guard Proration Block Advantage 200 3 - 24 - High 0 - Air OK Unblockable. Flips the opponent's facing direction and horizontal velocity. A slightly awkward get off me tool which can make an opponent whiff a slower attack, but is very slow on recovery itself, often leading to disadvantage on the faster moves that would be used up close. Can sometimes just lose to 4f moves anyway depending on momentum, and as such is only really useful in the robot matchup, which is the only place where moves are going to be slow enough to maybe get punished by this instead of you just being +1 or +2 after.

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Flame Wave

Flame Wave

Damage Startup Active First Actionable Frame Advantage * Guard Proration Block Advantage 300x5 9 1x5 15 - High 0 - Active for 1 frame every 5 frames. Air OK Unparryable. Sweeps the ground, covering a ton of space in neutral at not much cost to you. Dictates the Ninja and Robot matchups, while being moderately useful in the mirror and pretty bad against Cowboy. Pretty nice to do on getup against everyone but Ninja, as it can net you a nice blockstring that scores some chip damage and a ton of meter, from which their only escape is a very punishable roll.

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Missile Form

Missile Form COMIN' IN HOT! COMIN' IN HOT!

Damage Startup Active First Actionable Frame Advantage * Guard Proration Block Advantage 1200 backblast, 650 headbutt 7 1,Until Landing/IASA 22 - High 0 - Free cancellable Used for Bhops Explosion hitbox has 500 minimum damage Second most versatile move in Wizard's kit. In neutral, it enables benjihop tech (fastfall while airborne and missile form at any upwards angle), giving you an 11f actionable movement option that carries momentum very well, builds meter, shoots orb darts, and is generally a really safe approach that you should be going for constantly. Hitting people with the headbutt also has some cool niches when spark install is active or you're trying to bait out icicle-beaters like pommel, but it's usually too slow and too unsafe to hit its target from range. The real moneymaker is the explosion hitbox, often referred to as "backblast". Backblast is the strongest combo tool in Wizard's arsenal, sporting ridiculous hitstun and damage values and fast startup. The high knockback may seem like an issue, but super jumps, gusts, and zephyrs (which should be considered something of a last resort) normally make followup trivial, even letting you confirm into spark bombs much of the time. Backblast can also be used downwards as an ender, giving a pseudo-hard-knockdown and enough time to do wizard's most oppressive oki setups.

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Zephyr

Zephyr c'mere c'mere

Damage Startup Active First Actionable Frame Advantage * Guard Proration Block Advantage 200, 900 7,9 21 35 - Mid, Command Grab 0 - Wind hitbox cancels into Spark Bomb, Instant Cancel, or Taunt. Massive anti-air windbox that pulls them into a blockable far hitgrab zone, and then an un-blockable command grab up close. Somewhat obsolete as a combo extender, as it requires meter to keep going and doing spark bomb out of it will almost always drop, but is still pretty good as a greedy jump read in neutral.

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Gust

Gust

Damage Startup Active First Actionable Frame Advantage * Guard Proration Block Advantage - 1 16 16 - - 0 - Aimable wind box which strongly pushes projectiles and weakly pushes players. Also gently pushes the user. Will not push wizard off the ground unless hover is checked. Windbox strength gradually decays after each use in a combo, and then resets at the end of said combo. 1f startup is technically true but misleading, as it usually needs more like 4f or 5f before projectiles are pushed more than a few pixels. The most versatile and arguably the most important move in Wizard's kit. Can be used as a... Combo glue similar to Cowboy's teleports, getting them close enough with ample frame advantage to hit them again. Especially good after backblast and combustion. Very scary and multifaceted neutral move that makes Wizard's projectiles ten times more threatening just by existing. You can... Shove projectiles forward to catch players off guard at range. Shove projectiles upward to safely call out jumps. Hang projectiles in the air briefly to beat blocks, hitting them after the block becomes inactive. Nudge players forwards into static threats like Vile Clutch. Turn Spark Bomb into a scary space-denial tool, as anyone within gusting range of one has to be very careful not to get blown up. Bread-and-butter combo tool when used to slam spark bombs into opponents for massive damage and even crazier frame advantage. Easier to pull off than it seems - just be roughly +14 after the spark bomb comes out and it there will normally be an angle that works. Wallsplat range extender - if a move like Conjure Weapon doesn't quite knock them far enough to wallsplat, Gusting them into the wall for the splat will normally give great frame advantage. There are even more uses too niche to list here, but this covers most cases. Gust is the type of move that your opponent has to check every turn as soon as projectiles are on the field, and you should be checking it too, trying to see something they don't. Be sure to free cancel it essentially every time against Ninja, who can often Quick Slash punish careless users on reaction.

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Draw Moisture

Draw Moisture

Damage Startup Active First Actionable Frame Advantage * Guard Proration Block Advantage - - - 14 - - 0 - Interruptible on opponent's turn, as if it had been free cancelled Adds a charge of moisture, up to 3, which are used to cast/power up Geyser. Often safe to go for in neutral, as you have a chance to react to things like Quick Draw, and if the opponent did something like a movement option, you will have the opportunity to go for a very safe hold, or even cancel it and go on the aggressive to punish their passivity. Alternate between this and magic dart during faraway neutral, but be sure to hold the move on the turn after to actually finish it - be sure you hear the sound and see the droplet count go up.

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Geyser

Geyser 1 Droplet 1 Droplet 2 Droplet 2 Droplet 3 Droplet 3 Droplet

Damage Startup Active First Actionable Frame Advantage * Guard Proration Block Advantage 1300 11/10 2 23 - High 1 - Air OK Parryable on reaction. Not hit cancellable. Land cancellable. 2 Droplet version: 1500 damage, longer range. 3 Droplet version: 1700 damage, longer range, 10f startup, unparryable. Requires at least one drop of moisture to use, and can power up by spending additional droplets. A long range poke which can be used to call out more committal options, but which feeds the opponent meter when they are using less commital movement. Is also very punishable at all but the longest ranges excluding the 3 droplet version. Level 3 geyser is a great win condition to go for when your opponent is on a sliver of health, as they will be forced to block for substantial chip damage and die if they do anything but dodge the beam entirely. This is also your main answer to deter Cowboy's Quick Draw, as they won't be able to block in gun stance and will just have to eat the hit every time

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Vile Clutch

Vile Clutch Learn the tech for this thing, it'll be worth it Learn the tech for this thing, it'll be worth it

Damage Startup Active First Actionable Frame Advantage * Guard Proration Block Advantage 800, 400 19 5, 3 12 - Low, High 0 - Hits OTG (Off the ground/On the ground) Unparryable. Distance can be set with a slider Vine hand reaches out of the ground. Useful for extending combos at range. In neutral, it is usually a noncomittal, low-reward setup move that can trade favorably with opposing Wizard's geysers and framekill opposing Cowboy's quick draws while applying pressure at the same time. Pretty bad at grounded space denial, but can immediately put a ton of pressure on falling opponents who are down at least one air option. If you have extra frames right before a knockdown (such as +21) and good spacing, Vile Clutch is a setup for some of the strongest oki options in the game with meaty missile form or flamewave.

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Supers

Spark Bomb

Spark Bomb Skidaddle skidoodle, it's pretty good in neutral Skidaddle skidoodle, it's pretty good in neutral

Damage Startup Active First Actionable Frame Advantage * Guard Proration Block Advantage 1400 8 - 14 - - 0 - Bomb is able to explode as soon as 16f after spawning. Ignores projectile immunity, acting as a normal strike for those purposes. If blown up with the Spark toggle, it will detonate in 2f, as Wizard takes 310 damage and gets a temporary speed buff. Duration stacks with number of spark bombs endured. A high damage, massive-hitstun tracking projectile. Can be used in neutral with Gust to cover space and mess with parries, in combos also with gust to do massive damage in just a few hits, or far away just to give yourself "Spark Install" and approach at mach 5 with a bhop. The spark toggle can also let you use it as something of a shield, as if they get close to you but not close enough to parry the bomb, they now are forced to play a nasty guessing game between blocking your 2f detonate or reading your read into that. In the Wizard and Robot matchups you are probably better off saving up enough meter to get Orb out before using these, but against Cowboy and in the mirror, spark-only wizard is a powerful alternative playstyle.

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Orb

Orb Spawn Spawn Darts Darts Lightning Lightning Swords Swords

Spawn Damage Startup Active First Actionable Frame Advantage * Guard Proration Block Advantage - 8 - 9 - - 0 - Spawn the beast. Gradually drains your meter until it disappears when it hits 0. Will summon projectiles every time you do an attack with a hitbox attached to your character. Dart Damage Startup Active First Actionable Frame Advantage * Guard Proration Block Advantage 600 - - - - - 0 - Projectile appears: Frame 10 from tome slap. Frame 13 from mana strike / magic dart. Frame 18 from missile form. Frame 23 from confusing touch. Frame 28 from bolt of magma / zephyr. Frame 33 from flame wave / geyser. Frame 63 from vile clutch. Tome slap or bhop missile are the best ways to spawn lots of darts. The fact that they're faster gives them a bigger spacing window to parry them, but also makes them much more threatening with Gust. Swords Damage Startup Active First Actionable Frame Advantage * Guard Proration Block Advantage 600x3 - - - - - 0 - Unparryable. Hits frame 16 from icicles. Hits frame 24 conjure weapon. Big AOE sword, good at applying pressure since it can force your opponent to take chip damage. Great for burst-safe kill combos to close out a game with. Lightning Damage Startup Active First Actionable Frame Advantage * Guard Proration Block Advantage 900x3 - - - - - 0 - Hits OTG. Hits frame 18 from kick / mana kick. Hits frame 33 conjure storm. High damage lightning strike, difficult to control due to the recoil it inflicts on the orb. Very DI resistant, good damage, and its OTG can continue a lot of combos that you really deserved to drop. Useful in neutral in that it's actively a threat for far longer than any other orb projectile, and is, like everything in this cruel world, made a menace by gust.

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Orb Lock & Unlock

Orb Lock & Unlock

Damage Startup Active First Actionable Frame Advantage * Guard Proration Block Advantage - - - - - - 0 - Orb lock fixes the orb's location, wherever it is. Orb unlock releases the orb, allowing it to follow you or be pushed again. Very rarely worth the turn, especially in neutral. Try to think ahead and micromanage orb's position with the push arrows instead, as that allows you to do more useful moves simultaneously.

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Orb Tether

Orb Tether

Damage Startup Active First Actionable Frame Advantage * Guard Proration Block Advantage - - - 9 - - 0 - Slowly pulls wizard towards orb for 90 frames. Effect gets weaker over its duration. Unusual movement tool that has some use in saucy-looking suboptimal combos. The pull effect persists even if you get hit, which can sometimes pull you far enough away to escape combos proactively, but it's normally just better to do something else.

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Orb Portal

Orb Portal

Damage Startup Active First Actionable Frame Advantage * Guard Proration Block Advantage - - 3 7 - - 0 - Costs 1 bar of meter Moves on frame 2 Air OK Supremely fast and safe get out of jail free card. Safe on frame 2. Losing 1 meter and orb is a heavy price to pay without enough meter to spawn another orb, but it's normally worth it just to have an unpunishable escape. It's even quick enough to dodge and then whiff punish a good majority of moves in the game if they are used without free cancel.

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Taunt

Hustle Knowledge Knowledge

Damage Startup Active First Actionable Frame Advantage * Guard Proration Block Advantage - - - 45 - - 0 - Builds 1 bar of super on frame 45. Decreases friction during use A swag looking taunt with some niche utility. Can be used if slightly plus before a knockdown to gain meter and kill enough frames to disallow holding on the ground, which allows for more reliable oki from moves like icicle, kick, or flamewave.

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