Pokemon: Close Combat/Mienshao

Archetype:	Rushdown/Zoner Hybrid
Health:	27
Guard Health:	10
Walk Speed:	2.5/-2
Prejump Frames:	6f
Fastest Attack:	623B (3f)

Mien catch fly with chopstick. Accomplish anything.

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 guard health 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 HP and guard health in exchange for outstanding mobility and an extremely 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 guard health and HP 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 j.A 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 2 2 Mid 5A4, C Cancel - - Startup Active Recovery Advantage Cost 21 8 42 -13 [-18] - Total: 70 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 1 0 Mid 4A6A, Special - - Startup Active Recovery Advantage Cost 8 14 22 1 [-18] - Total: 43 Mienshao sweeps(?) the air above them with their arms. -Mienshao's fastest abare.
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4A6A	Damage Endurance Damage Guard Cancel Invul Property 1, 1 1, 1 Mid C Cancel - - Startup Active Recovery Advantage Cost 12 12 21 1 [-8] - Total: 44 Mienshao lunges forward and stabs the air in front of them with their ribbons(?) 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 5 17 -6 [-4] - 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 19 -2 [-7] - Total: 34 Mienshao does another kick forward.
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2A

Damage Endurance Damage Guard Cancel Invul Property 1+1 1+1 Mid Special, Jump - - Startup Active Recovery Advantage Cost 9, 13 6, 6 44 +48 [-18] - Total: 91 Mienshao balls their fists and punches the opponent twice. Solid combo tool that can be forward or back jump cancelled on hit, linking into j.2A and j.5A 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, and only the second into Jump.

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3A	Damage Endurance Damage Guard Cancel Invul Property 2 1 Low Special - Knockdown Startup Active Recovery Advantage Cost 16 6 26 56 [-14] - Total: 47 Mienshao sweeps the ground. Your main combo ender for most grounded combos. Also your ONLY low, albeit a very strong one.
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j5A	Damage Endurance Damage Guard Cancel Invul Property 1, 2 0, 0 Mid j.B, j.BBB - - Startup Active Recovery Advantage Cost 12 31 8 +21 [-5] - Total: 48 Mienshao does two kicks in the air. Advantage assumes done at the lowest possible height. Your main juggle for opponents in the air. Using dash jump in combination with a delayed j.A allows for a very 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 1 1 High - - - Startup Active Recovery Advantage Cost 10 Until landing 19 +15 [-1] - Mienshao divekicks. Advantage assumes done at the lowest possible height. Being EXTREMELY fast and also being a high allows for extremely 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 this as low to the ground as possible.

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Specials

Striking Seviper 5B	Damage Endurance Damage Guard Cancel Invul Property 1, 1, 2 1, 1, 1 Mid - - - 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. You are mobile during this move, allowing you to fade back to counteract it's poor advantage on both hit and block.
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Leaping Liepard 6B https://clips.twitch.tv/DiligentEagerMacaroniTBTacoRight-U1phgX1Mxti1MjC3 https://clips.twitch.tv/DiligentEagerMacaroniTBTacoRight-U1phgX1Mxti1MjC3

Damage Endurance Damage Guard Cancel Invul Property 3 1 Mid jB - - Startup Active Recovery Advantage Cost 9 28 21 -8 [-20] - Total: 57 Mienshao darts forward and bounces off anyone hit. It is deceptively safe in neutral, meaning that it is VERY punishable by any character with a far-reaching move (i.e Blaziken 2B). Mainly use it as a check for certain moves in neutral like Bewear 6B, as you can reasonably use it without getting immediately punished.

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Leaping Liepard (Swift Star) B after 6B	Damage Endurance Damage Guard Cancel Invul Property 2 1, 0, 0 - - - - Startup Active Recovery Advantage Cost 46 - Until landing + 11 - 1 Mienshao sends out a star projectile at a downward angle. Acts as some sort of "safety net" if your opponent blocks a bad 6B.

Soaring Spearow 2B

Damage Endurance Damage Guard Cancel Invul Property 2 1 - 2B8, 2B6, 2B6B - - Startup Active Recovery Advantage Cost 11 Until landing 17 - - Mienshao jumps back to the wall and then dives back down at an angle. When you hit the wall, you can choose from 3 followups depending on the input you do. Doing nothing will give you the downward dive, useful for countering very committal options (if a bit extra).

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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. You are airborne after the animation ends, giving you access to all of your air 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. Because of how the engine handles interactions in the corner, you can use this to stick to opponents after a 6B ender instead of being sent nearly fullscreen.

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

Damage Endurance Damage Guard Cancel Invul Property 2 0 - 2B6B - Launch Startup Active Recovery Advantage Cost - Until reaching other wall - - - Mienshao goes to the other wall extremely fast, hitting anything in their way before diving. This is arguably THE neutral skip tool. You are sent to the other wall with a giant moving hitbox that is somewhat hard to stop, and then you now are close enough to start your blockstrings. Be careful when you use it, as you can easily get punished by any projectile (or DP) for careless usage.

Swift Star jB

Damage Endurance Damage Guard Cancel Invul Property 2, 1, 1 1, 0, 0 High, Mid jBBB - - Startup Active Recovery Advantage Cost 46 - Until landing + 11 - - Mienshao backflips and sends a star projectile downward. Hitting them with the first hitbox of jB means that they will ONLY be hit by that single hit instead of the normal 3. Very useful as oki because of how much blockstun it has, although it is somewhat hard to capitalize on.

EX Moves

Thrusting Taillow 623B Fuck your pressure *does 17 damage* Fuck your pressure *does 17 damage*	Damage Endurance Damage Guard Cancel Invul Property 3, 2 1, 0 - 2B6B - 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 invul unlike other metered DPs), a combo starter, and a pressure extender.
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Star Shower j.BBB	Damage Endurance Damage Guard Cancel Invul Property 2, 2, 2 1, 1, 0, 0, 0 - - - - Startup Active Recovery Advantage Cost - - - - 1 Mienshao backflips and sends a multitude of star projectiles downward. You will mainly find use for this by catching mash after a blocked dashjump j.A.

Super

Qi Blast 624B Deleting health bars since demo.07 Deleting health bars since demo.07	Damage Endurance Damage Guard Cancel Invul Property 11 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. The projectile doesn't go fullscreen. Can be used as a combo ender 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. Pretty standard throw. This is the one you'll usually use in mix to keep 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

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