Fantasy Strike/Jaina

Overview

Lore

Jaina is a hot-tempered show-off, but she has the martial arts and archery skills to back it up. She wields a bow that creates flame arrows from thin air. Her connection with fire magic hints that her veins flow with the blood of the red dragon.

Character stats

Health	Character Type	Super Meter charge time
6	Zoner	10 Seconds

Gameplay

Jaina is a zoning character that put out many projectiles on the screen at different heights and angles as well as apply strong pressure with her divekick.

Strengths	Weaknesses
Can put out multiple fireballs on screen Chargeable and unblockable fireballs Strong anti-air tools Invincibility on Dragonheart is very active and long ranged Divekick provides strong rushdown pressure	Dragonheart costs health Anti-airs are situational and carry higher risk Mix of rushdown/zoning gives her contradictory tools

Moves

Ground

Low Kick	Damage Startup Active Recovery Hit Adv Block Adv Counter Adv Properties Attribute 1 10 6 14 +1 -1 +6 Cancellable Strike Jaina does a toe poke. Cancellable into or on hit or block. Combo into is spacing dependent but is guaranteed.

Knee +

Damage Startup Active Recovery Hit Adv Block Adv Counter Adv Properties Attribute 1 10 13 14 KD -8 KD Cancellable, Ground Bounce, Knockdown Strike Puts Jaina airborne. Will Ground Bounce airborne opponents. Cancellable into or on hit or block. (Jaina cannot control delay on the Air Flame Arrow, it will always be 8 Startup.) This move has its best priority if hit far and late, which also gives Jaina advantage on block (up to +4).

Roundhouse +	Damage Startup Active Recovery Hit Adv Block Adv Counter Adv Properties Attribute 1 12 5 22 -2 -4 +4 - Strike Far reaching roundhouse kick. Jaina moves forward while doing her kick, hitting at max range will let her hit later in the active frames. Useful for punishes and putting out a poke that won't commit to forward movement or be a projectile.

Flame Arrow Level 1 Level 1 Level 2 Level 2 Level 3 Level 3

Version Damage Startup Active Recovery Hit Adv Block Adv Counter Adv Properties Attribute Level 1 1 14 P 30 P P P Ground Bounce Projectile Level 1 projectile. Can be delayed for 1-51 frame, will become Level 2 Flame Arrow at 52 frames. Ground Bounce on airborne opponents. Because this move can be delayed make sure to release the button quickly if you want the fastest fireball possible. Level 2 1 52 P 39 P P P Ground Bounce Projectile Level 2 projectile. Can be delayed for 52-87 frame, will become Level 3 Flame Arrow at 52 frames. Ground Bounce on airborne opponents. Level 3 1 88 P 33 KD KD KD Unblockable, Ground Bounce, Knockdown Projectile Unblockable level 2 projectile. Can be delayed for 88-116 frames. Ground Bounce on airborne opponents.

Dragonheart

Damage Startup Active Recovery Hit Adv Block Adv Counter Adv Properties Attribute 1 16 3(0)12 28 KD -22 KD Fully Invincible, Ground Bounce Strike High and far reaching invincible attack but quite a lot of startup. Invulnerable frames 1-27. Costs 1 health, will not remove Jaina's last health point. Hitting an airborne opponent allows for follow up juggles in the corner. +64 advantage from a grounded hit, allowing for oki setups.

Throw Throw Throw Yomi Counter Yomi Counter

Version Damage Startup Active Recovery Hit Adv Block Adv Counter Adv Properties Attribute Forward 1 3 4 16 KD - KD Knockdown Throw Forward Throw. +44 advantage, +38 on Rook. Universal Throw; all throws have the same frame data and can be beaten with a Yomi Counter Back 1 3 4 16 KD - KD Knockdown Throw Back Throw. Side switches, +44 advantage, +48 on Rook. Universal Throw; all throws have the same frame data and can be beaten with a Yomi Counter Yomi 1 - - - KD - - Knockdown Parry +25 advantage. Universal counter for Throws. In a neutral state, the opponent's throws will be automatically countered by Yomi Counter.

Red Dragon

Damage Startup Active Recovery Hit Adv Block Adv Counter Adv Properties Attribute 2 0+20 20 46 KD -34 KD Fully Invincible, Knockdown Strike Unleash the dragon. Massive hitbox completely covering Jaina on both sides and above her and active forever. Completely invincible for the entire attack (1-44). Extremely slow and unsafe, even slower than Dragonheart, so not so useful for an anti-air but the huge amount of invincibility and active frames will let Jaina go through many attacks and cover crossups. Gives a massive amount of advantage (+88), allowing for unique setups and great oki.

Air

Divekick	Damage Startup Active Recovery Hit Adv Block Adv Counter Adv Properties Attribute 1 8 17 [2] +12 ~ +22 +10 ~ +20 +26 ~ +28 - Strike Dives and kicks at the same time. Jaina's rushdown in one button. Great for movement to get around projectiles.

Air Flame Arrow

Damage Startup Active Recovery Hit Adv Block Adv Counter Adv Properties Attribute 1 1 P 32~53 P P P - Projectile Can be delayed for 27 frames, reduces recovery the longer the delay. Jaina hops back and fires the arrow, if fully charged she will drop straight down. Thanks to the speed this is a good option to punish jumps but it usually needs to be done on a read and will lose Jaina valuable space.

Arc Shot Arc Shot Arc Shot Arrow Arrow	Damage Startup Active Recovery Hit Adv Block Adv Counter Adv Properties Attribute 1 14 P [6] P P P - Projectile Jaina fires an arrow upwards, the arrow will come down at an angle. Keep opponents out, create tricky oki setups, stop Jaina's jump arc. Shooting the arrow higher in her jump will send the arrow further.

Rain of Fire	Damage Startup Active Recovery Hit Adv Block Adv Counter Adv Properties Attribute - 0+27 - 3 - - - - - Jaina shoots 3 Arc Shots across the screen with different trajectories

Combos

Basic

> (2 damage, Knockdown)

+, > (3 damage)

+, + > (3 damage, on deep hit)

Airborne opponent

+, + > (3 damage)

Corner Only , (2 damage, Knockdown)

Corner Only , (2 damage, Knockdown)

Strategy

General

Jaina is a hybrid zoner and rushdown character, she can flood the screen with arrows and build up chip damage or she can go on the offense with her divekick to smother opponents. Her Dragonheart is a strong tool to stop opponents pressing buttons as well as to remove options that are reactable.

Her supers can be difficult to utilize due to both being quite slow and unsafe but they can be quite strong when set up correctly. In general, Rain of Fire is the preferred super but Red Dragon can be a powerful denial tool by removing options from the opponent.
Jaina is one of the more technical characters because she has to wear so many hats. Matchups are often very dynamic, with Jaina having to switch between rushdown with divekicks, setplay with Arc Shots, zoning with arrows and Dragonheart. Spacing and timing matter require high precision to get the most out of this character but she is rewarded well.

As a gimmick, Jaina can make Dragonheart safe by having an arc shot land after Dragonheart hits. Useful for burning down opponents life.

Guides

Mr Mkl's playlist of Jaina training sequences
Quick Hits: Jaina sequences
Zadberry's Jaina punish notes

Matchups

Name	Type	Matchup Strategy
Argagarg	Zoner	Jaina completely controls the ground with Arrow. You want to be somewhat close to Arg, just outside of your Roundhouse kick range. Here arrows (non-delayed) will overwhelm Arg, maintain this distance and walk Arg down to the corner. If he poisons you just keep firing arrows, the blockstun will allow you to keep up with the damage from poisons stacks. If you can land a Dragonheart, it will send Arg flying to the corner where you want him. You will be in range at round start, so don't let him get away with Blue Fish. If Arg is trying to jump over your arrows (he will eventually have to) use Dragonheart to knock him out of the sky. Once in the corner. Don't approach Arg, just stay at your safe range where you can hit him with arrows or Dragonhearts. You can use arc shots to force trades or add more chip. MKL's Arg vs Jaina matchup breakdown
DeGrey	Wild Card	DeGrey's air super completely shuts down Rain of Fire, you can use jB to air to air but it is very precise. You generally want to be rushing down because it is so difficult to keep DeGrey out. Be mindful of the ghost timer when trying to divekick rushdown.
Geiger	Zoner	Jaina can Dragonheart through Geiger's gears but throw arrows outside of Flash Gears range. She has a slight edge on zoning here but Time Stop will destroy her ability to throw any fireballs so she will have to play a dance between rushing down and zoning.
Grave	Zoner	Thanks to Wind, Grave is able to zone somewhat against Jaina but Rain of Fire lets Jaina maintain zoning. Grave's main weakness here is the recovery on his fireballs, it is much longer than Jaina's. Grave's Dragonheart is a powerful anti air but if close enough, Divekick will make it whiff.
Jaina	Zoner	Jaina can Dragonheart through her own arrows, the key here is forcing the other Jaina into blocking Divekicks.
Lum	Wild Card	You can't outzone items. Rushdown with divekicks. Lvl 3 Charged arrows can clear mini-lum
Midori	Grappler	Zone midori out with arrows. Don't let him do a Dragon Form transformation into knockdown against your arrows. Red Dragon is powerful as a way to run down Dragon meter.
Onimaru	Wild Card	You can zone him but be extremely careful about the range of oni's B swing into stance. It can allow for trades that massively favor him. Divekick rushdown is effective but very vulnerable to Divide and Conquer. Red Dragon is very handy in this matchup as a way to punish moves and avoid Guard Crush. Dragonheart is very useful for shutting down fA but be aware that Oni can option select his parry to beat Dragonheart.
Quince	Wild Card	Divekick rushdown with some arrows mixed in. If Quince tries to use mirrors, punish with Dragonheart if in range. bA is a real pain in this matchup, especially once Quince gets meter. Patriot Mirror means you can't use fireballs
Rook	Grappler	Arc Shot is very strong against Rook. jB can hit a standing Rook. Jaina does well in this matchup by spewing out every arrow she has. Plus, she has +, which most characters have a problem against. Now put the slowest character in that situation. Plus, jC on oki destroys anything that this character can do on wakeup.
Setsuki	Rushdown	Divekick, with all of Setsuki's projectile invincibility and mobility you simply can't zone her.
Valerie	Rushdown	Divekick. Be careful of Chromatic Orb as an anti-air and anti-projectile move.