DracoFighter/Draco

Draco
Health	100
Dash Time	15 Frames

Story

Draco is the most powerful fighter on Earth, with unique fire-breathing powers and unparalleled flight abilities. Despite fighting being his one true passion, he soon grew tired of it. He wanted someone to give him a real fight. However, once he caught wind of a time machine being built, he broke into the building in the hopes of fighting history's greatest fighters: the dinosaurs.

Gameplay Overview

As his name suggests, Draco is the main character of DracoFighter. Following tradition, he's made to be an all-rounder that thrives around short to mid range, but is a lot less like Ryu and more like Akuma. He also has a very threatening grab, making him a semi-grappler and the most RPS-focused character.

Strengths

Weaknesses

Versatility: Has a move for every situation and range. Grabs: Arguably has the best grab in the game due to the followups alone, which allow him to chain grabs or choose to reposition at will. Damage: Very threatening damage, able to take 70-80% of a health bar off 2 good hits. Aerial Mobility: The best aerial mobility in the game by far, with forward + backward jumps and the ability to change his momentum mid-flight.

Range: While decent, Draco will get outranged by zoners and better disjoints. Ground Mobility: Walk speed and dash speed is below average when compared to other fighters, while dashing moves are committal. This can force him to go aerial, which may be risky.

Move List

Standing Normals

N-Attack 5A	Damage Startup Active FAF Adv on Hit Adv on Block 10 8 8 30 +5 -4 Draco's fastest move. Extends his hurtbox slightly, but is disjointed all around the edges. Good poke and decent get-off-me tool, pushing the opponent out at a comfortable range.

F-Attack 6A	Damage Startup Active FAF Adv on Hit Adv on Block 10, 15 20, 30 8, 4 70 +1 -18 A decent but slow whiff punisher. Deals good damage, and best for when you want to push the opponent away at the end of a combo. Launch punishable on block, so don't use this carelessly.

B-Attack 4A you will get hit by this you will get hit by this	Damage Startup Active FAF Adv on Hit Adv on Block 20 20 10 58 +3 (Launcher) -21 A slow disjointed anti-air and launcher. Huge risk, huge reward. Mainly used as a combo followup, big block punish, or hard grab read.

Specials/Aerials

N-Special 5B	Damage Startup Active FAF Adv on Hit Adv on Block 10 20 180 40 ~+2 ~-2 Draco shoots a slow-moving fireball that lasts for 3 seconds. Mainly used as a setup projectile to walk behind and force the opponent to react, which can lead into a punish.

F-Special / B-Special 6B / 4B have fun trying to touch him have fun trying to touch him	Damage Startup Active FAF Adv on Hit Adv on Block -- 0 -- 60 -- -- Draco flies forward or backwards depending on the input. The jump distance and followups are identical for both. These can be used defensively as an escape, or offensively to force a mix-up situation. Air options are allowed a bit before you reach the peak of your jump, which is about 25 frames.

Air-Attack j.A the legendary divekick the legendary divekick	Damage Startup Active FAF Adv on Hit Adv on Block 12 8 16 30 ~+11 ~-5 A very quick divekick. Can lead into an N-Attack on hit, and is usually safe on block. Frame data on hit/block is better the later you land the divekick.

Air-Special j.B in case you wanted to know what it'd be like to give a grappler akuma fireballs in case you wanted to know what it'd be like to give a grappler akuma fireballs

Damage Startup Active FAF Adv on Hit Adv on Block 10 20 180 40 ~+2 ~-2 Draco shoots a fireball at a downward angle while also gaining momentum backwards. This can be used as a safe fakeout while jumping forward, or for creating a projectile with large pressure/zoning potential. Stats are mostly based on in-game metrics, but can vary in the actual game (e.g. despite technically having a lifetime of 3 seconds the fireball will hit the ground before then).

Air-Grab j.C / j.A+B	Damage Startup Active FAF Adv on Hit Adv on Block 5 16 10 35 -- -- A quick air-to-ground grab that shoots Draco downwards. If landed, the damage and trajectory is identical to Draco's N-Grab. Also has huge reward -- the opponent has to either anti-air you or read the grab to punish.

Grabs

N-Grab 5C give him a hug give him a hug	Damage Startup Active FAF Adv on Hit Adv on Block 5 12 16 40 -- -- A grab with larger range than it appears to. This is a big bread-and-butter for Draco's mix-ups and pressure, but you have to work yourself into a position where it's usable.

F-Grab 6C Draco YEET Draco YEET	Damage Startup Active FAF Adv on Hit Adv on Block 15 20 8 40 -- -- Draco dashes forward with a grab, before throwing them all the way across the stage. This has no followups (other than perfectly spaced fireball shenanigans), but can be a decent whiff punisher and can be great for positioning.

B-Grab 4C	Damage Startup Active FAF Adv on Hit Adv on Block 7 12 16 40 -- -- Draco grabs and throws his opponent backwards, allowing for a followup -- usually F-Attack, but throwing them against a wall can allow for a B-Attack. Great for reversing corner situations!

Combos

Anything labelled as a "reset" is a way to end a combo earlier to throw off the opponent's timing for a mix-up, but note that this always means less guaranteed damage. However, it's worth considering due to Draco's gameplan, which will be covered more in the Strategy section. Combos are ordered by damage, which is noted in (parentheses).

B-Attack

• B-Attack > F-Attack - MAX Damage (45)
• B-Attack > B-Attack - High damage, keeps opponent close (40)
• B-Attack > N-Attack - Reset (30)

N-Grab / Air-Grab

• Grab > B-Attack > N-Attack - MAX Damage (35)
• Grab > F-Attack - Positioning (30)
• Grab > B-Attack - Reset (25)
• Grab > N-Attack - Reset (15)

B-Grab

• B-Grab > F-Attack - MAX Damage (32)
• B-Grab (into wall) > B-Attack (27)
• B-Grab > N-Attack - Reset? (17)

Air-Attack

• (VERY late hit) Air-Attack > B-Attack - MAX Damage (32)
• Air-Attack > N-Attack - Consistent (22)

Hypothetical Combos

Cool combos that have questionable practicality outside training mode!

• (N-Special) > F-Grab > Fireball Hit > F-Attack (50)
• (N-Special) > (F-Special) > Air-Grab > Fireball Hit > F-Attack (40)
• N-Grab > (B-Special) > (VERY late hit) Air-Attack > B-Attack (32)

Strategy

Draco is an all-rounder that can adapt to any situation. He thrives when he can force the opponent into an RPS blender, but will often have to play at different ranges, either due to necessity or to break the opponent's gameplan.

From far range, Draco can only pelt the opponent with fireballs. These are mainly to give him an opening to approach, but he can also zone with them if he really doesn't want the opponent to touch him. A mix of Air-Specials and N-Specials usually works best and makes them more difficult to avoid -- while he can only have 1 out at a time, he can start the animation while one is already out, as long as the fireball gets destroyed once the spawn time comes. Master this, and you can overlap fireballs for a better zoning game.

In neutral, Draco is best at mid range, where he's in range for F-Attack, F-Grab, and his jumps. He can usually reach this position fairly easily by walking behind fireballs, or by using well-placed jumps. From here, you have to predict the opponent's actions to get in close, or wait for them to make a move first and whiff punish. You can often jump in rather safely, choosing to either 50/50 with Air-Attack/Air-Grab, or keeping yourself safe with an Air-Special fakeout. Draco is very safe when not committing to an approach, so you can often choose to pelt them with fireballs and wait for an opening rather than forcing one.

However, forcing a 50/50 with either F-Attack/F-Grab or Air-Attack/Air-Grab can work pretty well in your favor, which will bring you at close range. Here, you can mix up all you want between grabs, N-Attack, or even jumping back with B-Special and forcing another mix-up from a safe distance away. Your playstyle should depend on the opponent and their character. If it's a zoner, you will often enjoy staying in as close as you can and throwing them into the blender, which will generally consist of N-Grab/B-Attack mix-ups into combos, before resetting and giving them the 50/50 again. If you're against a character with a better close-range game, this is still an option, but you can also opt to play safer depending on how aggressive the opponent is.