Acceleration of Suguri X/Nanako

Introduction

Nanako primarily uses Bits to attack. She can overwhelm her opponents with sheer amount of projectiles on screen at a time.

Normal Moves

• Note: All of Nanako's attacks have their total hits divisible by seven, however most of the time these hits are flying every which way, so they're noted as an n variable.
• Note: Bits are numbered based on the order they fire in certain attacks, which can be observed as counterclockwise starting from the bit to Nanako's right.

Weapon A

Tentacle Needle

• Press A [Beam]
  • Damage: 40x n
  • Small, rapid-firing shots. Fires in bit order.

Tentacle Ray

• Hold [A] [Beam]
  • Damage: 100x n
  • Fires seven beams all towards the opponent, creating a beam wall of sorts.

Tentacle Mine

• Dash + A [Beam]
  • Damage: 40x n
  • Each bit fires three slow moving balls that dissipate in about a second. Fires in bit order.

Weapon B

Ether Feather

• Press B [Ballistic]
  • Damage: 30x8, (20x2)n (Blast)
  • Each bit fires a single triangular projectile that arcs around.

Ether Mine

• Hold [B] [Ballistic]
  • Damage: 30x13, (20x2)n (Blast)
  • Each bit fires three mines that slowly travel in a straight line. Fires in bit order.

Special 1

Tentacle Needle

• Press sA [Beam]
  • Damage: 40x n
  • The same attack as WA, however when the Spec-fire button is held, Nanako's bits spread out and cover a wider area.

Tentacle Ray [Focused]

• Hold [sA] [Beam]
  • Damage: 100x n
  • Again the same attack as before, except this time each bit will individually aim at your opponent. Can do very good damage if all the hits connect.

Special 2

Shell Shoot

• Press sB [Melee]
  • Damage: 70x n
  • Sends out two bits (3 and 6) to ram your opponent.

• Hold [sB] [Melee]
  • Damage: 70x n
  • This will send out four bits to attack instead of two (3 and 6, followed by 4 and 7).

Hyper Attacks

Hyper A1: Tentacle Breath

• Execution: Hyper
  • Damage: 18x n
  • Each bit fires a powerful beam off in succession, like Nanako's WA. Does a total of 384 damage over 21 hits. Weak, but usually hard to dodge. In bit order, of course.

Hyper A2: Tentacle Breath

• Execution: Dash + Hyper
  • Damage: 24x n
  • Each bit fires off a powerful beam at the same time, like Nanako's A Hold. Each bit fires a beam that does a maximum of five hits.

Hyper B: Tentacle Branch

• Execution: sHyper
  • Damage: 40x n
  • Each bit flies toward the enemy first then fires off two beam attacks, however they can be negated through dashing.

Hyper C: Flower Crown

• Execution: B + Hyper
  • Damage: 50x n (Ball), 80x n (Mine)
  • A combination of Nanako's WA Dash and WB Hold.

Accel Hyper: Spring Storm

• Execution: A + B + Hyper or sB + Hyper
  • Damage: 64x n (Beam), 50x n (Ball)
  • Costs three stocks. Hits all around Nanako, although be wary of your positioning or your opponent can evade this attack completely.

Strategies

• Any attack only uses a bit if it's not currently engaged in performing another attack. Tentacle Needle (either version), Ether Mine, the unnamed beam variant thereof (Dash+WA), Shell Shoot, and the regular Tentacle Breath all use the bits non-simultaneously, meaning that certain attacks might not execute entirely (if at all) when performed immediately afterwards. This affects those attacks themselves as well as Ether Feather. Tentacle Ray (either version) will not work until all bits are usable, and all Hypers cancel bit action prior to execution. The attacks will still build hyper meter even if no shots are fired, Nanako will gain the meter as soon as the attack pose occurs.
• Because Nanako builds special meter from moves even if no shots are fired, Nanako can fire Tentacle Needle, dash cancel the pose, then fire Tentacle Needle again and still build meter for it. The meter is built the moment Nanako poses for the shot, so meter is built from both poses even though no shots are fired for the second Tentacle Needle (because the first had not yet finished). This lets Nanako quickly build meter with the [WA>Dash]xN loop like most other characters can, even though some of the shots are just empty poses.
• Shell Shoot always uses the same four bits, it does not substitute if any of the four are busy (and sitting there doing nothing is kinda silly and gives your opponent openings you don't need to.)
• Shell Shoot causes the bits to traverse the screen with a wide circular or spiral arc after the shot is fired. This flight pattern can be interrupted with another of Nanako's moves, such as Ether Mines or Dash+WA, which will hold the bits in place during the attack. This allows you to position bits far away from you and perform another attack, such as the Shell Shoot again. For example: doing Shell Shoot, then Ether Mines, then Shell Shoot again will allow you to fire the melee bits from across the screen (huge distance) which allows Nanako to use melee-type attacks from large distances.
• Many of Nanako's attacks will persist and the bits continue to fire even if Nanako cancels them with a dash or is hit during them. This allows Nanako to do a couple of unique things. First, you can begin an attack such as Tentacle Needle then quickly dash cancel the attack as soon as the first bullet is fired, then the bits will continue to fire the rest of the shots even though Nanako is currently dashing. Second, this can interrupt the opponent's melee chains by timing your attack right before being hit. For example: Nanako can fire Tentacle Needle or Shell Shoot just before being hit by Suguri's Beam Sword melee chain or Kae's Immolation Claws melee chain, even though Nanako is being hit the bits will continue to fire and can knock the opponent out of their attack, allowing Nanako to escape while causing the opponent damage.
• Tentacle Needle fires bullets in rapid succession, rather than at the same time, which can trap the opponent in hit-stun for a long time if each of the bullets hit one after the other. This can allow Nanako to combo some slower attacks, such as comboing Tentacle Needle into Tentacle Breath (A1 Hyper). Additionally, Nanako recovers before Tentacle Breath finishes firing, which can allow Nanako to add another attack while the opponent is still being hit by the beams, such as a Focused Tentacle Ray. EG: Tentacle Needle > Tentacle Breath (A1 Hyper) > Tentacle Ray (focused).
• Nanako's Ether Mines are useful for disrupting enemy ballistic attacks, due to the number of mines and the wide spread.
• Ether Mines also cover a lot of area on the screen and move slowly, which can allow Nanako to create interesting link combos when used before another attack. For example: Nanako can fire Ether Mines, then hit the opponent with Shell Shoot or dashing Tentacle Breath (A2 Hyper), and if the positioning and timing is correct then the mines will intercept with the opponent before they recover from the previous attack. Additionally, the mines can inflict a long duration of hit-stun themselves, allowing Nanako to add yet another attack in such as Tentacle Needle, Shell Shoot, or Focused Tentacle Ray.
• Tentacle Breath is a good defensive hyper move. Although the opponent can avoid the lasers by dashing away from where they are targeting, the opponent is not able to dash through the lasers. Also, Nanako normally recovers and is able to move and attack before the fifth bit fires, and you are also able to dash cancel the pose just before the fourth bit fires. Additionally, the shield lasts up until about when the last bit fires. So, because the opponent can not dash through the lasers and Nanako recovers before they finish firing, it is useful for getting the opponent off you and recovering (lowering) some of your heat.
• Dashing Tentacle Breath (A2 Hyper) is a difficult hyper to use, but also very useful for offense. If your opponent is currently dashing when fired, there's a high probability that the lasers will miss the opponent. However, the startup time for the lasers is quite fast so it's very good for combing from other attacks or hitting the opponent out of other attacks.
• The lasers fired from dashing Tentacle Breath (A2 Hyper) also fire "strait" rather than directly at the opponent, so aiming it can also be difficult. Holding Spec first will spread out your bits, then pressing Dash+Hyper will result in a very wide spread of lasers covering most of the screen (note: holding Spec then pushing Dash+Hyper, or holding dash then pressing Spec+Hyper results in the A2 Hyper), which can increase the probability of hitting your opponent, especially a moving target, which is useful when sniping at your opponent. However, due to the wide spread, only a few lasers will be hitting the opponent at the same time so it will cause less damage, which makes this only useful as the first hit of a combo.
• Alternately, you can bunch your bits together in a pile by first firing an attack that uses all your bits, then dash canceling away from your bits. When the bits are finished firing they will track you, and while tracking they tend to group together in a pile. While in a pile, many of the lasers fired from dashing Tentacle Breath (A2 Hyper) will overlap, so if the lasers hit the opponent they will cause large damage, this is particularly useful for hitconfirm or situational combos. Keep both of these in mind when using this Hyper to avoid/use either scenario for the given situation.
• Tentacle Branch (Hyper B) is relatively useless on it's own because the opponent can dash through all of the lasers. However, it can still be useful in combos for the reason that the bits track the opponent from across the screen, which allows you to combo Shell Shoot from anywhere. Therefor, if you put your opponent in hitstun from something like a Tentacle Needle or Tentacle Breath (either), you can then combo into the Tentacle Branch and then follow up with a Shell Shoot. This is only particularly useful in situations where it would not normally be possible to combo after a Tentacle Breath (such as when your opponent is pressed against the stage border). EG: Tentacle Breath > Tentacle Branch > Shell Shoot