Melty Blood/MBTL/Neco-Arc/Strategy

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General Gameplan (the basics)

Should I play Neco-Arc?

Neco-Arc is a glass bones and paper skin zoner that can create situations to favor her surprisingly effective close range game. Such situations usually involve disrupting the enemy with one of her summons, knocking them down her Ex specials or simply annoying them enough so that they get closer to you.

Although her combos and set-ups are not exceptionally complex, this character is debatably the hardest to win matches with in the whole game given her lackluster neutral and defense, as well as her shaky gameplan that involves RNG and esoteric stratagems. She DOES have good (or at least decent) matchups and can make for a solid pick provided you know what you're doing with her. Generally, however, this character can be very daunting for a beginner to pick up and often drives away players who do not have the patience to invest in her.

Though frustrating to learn and play properly, she does possess an assortment of tools that enable her to stand up to the rest of the cast and should be treated as a real character despite her internet-borne status. If you are New to Melty Blood TL but has played fighting games before, chances are you will figure her out just fine with a little investment. If you are New to fighting games in general, it is advisable that you learn the game first and then come back unless you are EXTREMELY passionate about playing this character. If you Already play MBTL, do try her out: she is a lot of fun and can make for a good wild card secondary.

"I'm new to the character and just want to know what buttons to mash (Tools at a Glance)"

Your primary objective is to get to this screen. Good luck soldier.
Next to the opponent

2B The most important normal Neco has: starts pressure, can be used as blockstring filler, mobility option and can be made unblockable when charged. Learning the advantages and timings of partial charging comes with practice.

5A and 2A Your abare options for defense. Use 5A if they're close and 2A if they're farther away. 5A is also your rebeat normal for blockstrings, leaving you at +0 and ready to reestablish pressure and trap your opponent.

623B and 623C More defense options for Neco.

Rapid Beat Does more damage than 3C, can double up as a blockstring tool.

5C Advances Neco forward, useful for pressure and hit confirming into Rapid Beat.

4C Cool-looking overhead. Slow, but they ain't blocking it if they are distracted by the Necos.

2C Sweep, low, blockstring filler.

3C Works in combos that are not already prorated, but as a newbie prolly just use it as an anti-air

3BC Unreasonably plus, use at will.

Neco Rekka (6C series) Pressure and combo tool

236BC The kill button. Does less damage than an average Arc Drive, but it nevertheless scales like one and as such can be a valuable option for closing rounds.

The Sky

j214X Broken special move. Serves as a mobility option, mixup tool, and approach tool. It clashes with literally everything, use it. The EX version is less abusable, but does good damage for closing rounds.

jA Primary air to air. Useful after air dashing for surprise overheads.

jB IAD Normal, chains into j2B.

j2B Brings them down for more damage. Can surprise opponents trying to jump at you in the air.

jC Overhead/ annoying button.

j236A / j6BC Controls space and can stop the opponent from dashing at you, especially when done from an air backdash.

At Range

236A/B Zoning tool and primary anti-air, respectively. Can be canceled into 421C on either whiff or hit.

236C Fast beam. Be random with it. Whiff punish with it. Stack damage with it. Honestly, just use it.

421X and 1BC The reason why you play Neco. If you're a new player or just here for the funnies, just learn to keep the inputs for these consistent and spam them when appropriate. If you ACTUALLY want to play Neco, probably read the Luck and Advanced tech sections to know how to abuse this better.

4BC Punishes things from fullscreen into a knockdown and oki. Can be used in a blockstring for a high-low-throw mixup. Just don't get this Shielded and you're good.

Anti-Airs

While she doesn't have the most consistent anti-airs, Neco-Arc nonetheless boasts interesting ways to discourage the opponent from simply jumping in on her in the form of unblockable setups.

236B Your main anti-air at 16f. Albeit slow and preemptive, it reaches the very top of the screen and will give Neco-Arc a combo on counter-hit, or even on regular hit if canceled into 22C. It can even be canceled for an unblockable setup with Moondrive 3C.

3C Rather small and awkward but it is your primary tool vs IADs due to being air unblockable. Can clash with some jump-ins, which usually means that you'll jump cancel and air throw them.

2BC Also slow at 17f, but it fatal counters if they pressed. In addition, it can be Moodrive canceled into 3C.

6[A] Specifically the last ground hit. Colossal gimmick and can only work in rare scenarios in which you start doing it early and your opponent must traverse the screen. But the move is HUGE and air-unblockable, so it can definitely discourage people from jumping over the Tire or a Train for instance.

TK j214A Around 10f, same as 3C. Unreliable since you are betting on a clash but it can work. If they block in the air, recover down and Moon Drive into 6C for an unblockable starter.

4BC Can low profile a jump-in and counter hit the opponent. Given that crossup protection does not apply in the air and that this move tracks Neco-Arc to the front of the opponent, they must be particular about blocking it properly. If jump-cancelled into jA, Neco-Arc can jail the opponent with an air blocktring and immediately start calling the shots on the ground.

Rapid Beat 1 By whiffing a 5A and immediately performing Rapid Beat, Neco-Arc will zip forwards and perform an air-unblockable uppercut that fatal counters. Rather small for what it does, but the forward movement is nice and it can be made safe on ground block by special canceling.

Neutral and Pressure

Lmao what Neutral?? Seriously though, this character has pretty bad neutral. Aim to whiff punish with advancing or long normals to get your vortex oki gameplan started, but you will most often be zoning with beamus and jump-back onion rings and getting summons out to find opportunities to get in. Superjump jC is pretty good and changes Neco's air trajectory. Avoid throwing if you have no summons out given the lack of a knockdown on it. Burrow in with 4BC when they least expect it. Burrow in with 214X when summons are out to disorient the opponent. Abuse Whiff Cancelling.

Once you are in, Neco has an entire arsenal of frame traps and plus frames, making it (potentially) hard to shrug her off. Whereas other characters are left at -1 upon rebeating, Neco-Arc is left at +0. You'll want to make the opponent second guess themselves and be unpredictable, since most often they won't be respecting this character anyways. To that end, constantly rotate your options to spot gaps on their knowledge of the matchup.

Be patient when pressing against a competent Neco-Arc. You don't want this to be you.
  • Tiger Knee Neco Rocket:* If you thought this move was good already, you're in for a good one. By inputting 2147X, Neco will instantly perform the special from a minimum height. Why is that good? This leaves her at a -3 frame disadvantage on block, meaning that you can actually block 5-frame buttons. Coupling this with the option to change the rocket's trajectory, and the innate clash frame from this special move, you get essentially free pressure from doing this. Should your opponent briefly respect your wakeup, you can even Tiger Knee her Ex Rocket, which leaves her -2 on block and hard knocks down on hit. Even if they block this, you can Moon Drive on the ground and be very plus. As stated earlier, you can Moon Drive any air blocked option for an unblockable starter on the ground.

Assuming no summons on screen, normal blockstrings should follow the general pattern of 5C/2B/5[B]/2A/6A > filler normal > filler normal > special cancel or rebeat 5A. You can challenge a low Shield with 5[B] (which gets you a damaging combo if followed up with 4BC) and a high Shield with any low, but you probably want 2B for that purpose. If they turtle, 4C them.

You can also play it out like Granblue and blockstring with Neco's rapid beats. The only real downside to this is that you don't get the punish scenarios mentioned above, and instead are liable to playing Shield Jenga with your opponent if they block a special cancel since that is your only real option for rapid beat.

Non-exhaustive pressure string examples

2A > 2B > 5C > 2C > 5A
5C > 2B > 6A (reset) > 2C > 6CCC > 22C (reset)
2B > 5B > 6CC > 3BC > 5C > Rapid Beat 1 & 2 > 22A
2A > 2C > 2B > 5C > 5[B] > 5A (reset) > tk 214A > 8X > MD > jA > jB > 5A > ...
jump in j[C] > jA > jB > 5A > 2B > 6A (reset)
2B > 2A > 2C > 5C > Rapid Beat 1 & 2 > 214X
5C > 2C > 2B > 5B > 4C > 623A (left at -1 on block)

Comments: One can come up with an endless permutation of pressure strings. 2B > 6A is tricky to time but leaves Neco-Arc at +2 advantage. It can be intentionally whiffed and charged to frame trap with the Tekken combo, usually working against 7f options and above.

4C can be input at any point where a normal could be input and can high profile certain moves besides the fact that it hits overhead. They MUST challenge it, since Neco-Arc can make it safe on block.

22C plus frames are contingent on the distance it connects, with point blank making a followup 2C a true blockstring.

Defense

Prepare to block a lot, as Neco lacks reliable abare or fast footsie buttons she can use out of block to reestablish. If you see a gap or the opponent IADs, 2B away to hit/side swap with them or try 623B. You will be relying a lot on Shield, Moon Drive and Heat, as winning interactions with these give Neco pretty good reward in the form of knocking them away or granting time for a summon or laser.

Heat in particular gives Neco-Arc a +2 Luck Stat raise and allows her to set up unblockable setups with 214BC, while giving her access to whiff canceled laser and 236BC. Make your opponent regret not OSing and have them play around your Heat to make your other options more valuable.

While having strong keepaway tools in theory, Neco-Arc's summons and beams are often made subpar at their function due to one the game's most centralizing mechanic: Shield. At close range, one must consider the possibility of the BC counter, but at range only a B counter can cover enough ground to punish her. It can rather hard for Neco-Arc to reestablish, given the small range on her Shield counter A & B so Shielding back is usually a poor option. Nevertheless, she can turn around and Shield the opponent for any beam (besides 6BC) and any summon if one wills it. She can also block a B counter arising from a Shielded summon, but considering her small range this is usually a risky option. She can also, however, 3C an opponent who opts for a B counter, so do consider that option if a summon is Shielded.

Okizeme and Setplay

SaltProphet's Luck Manipulation and Okizeme guide touches upon ways of manipulating Neco-Arc's RNG Summons to empower her okizeme, as well as discussing her oki in general.

Even without such a strategy, her oki game is quite strong, boasting safe jumps, 4-way mixups, and strong meaty attacks that enable her to start oppressing opponents with her +0 blockstring resets.

In essence, there are 2 main ways in which okizeme is secured with Neco-Arc an Ex ender such as 623C or j214C, or through an air throw. Air enders are pretty similar, granting a left/right mixup through super jumping or a Shield followup-safe meaty in the form of j236A.

623C however, opens up an array of possibilities for okizeme that can take opponents by surprise. With one of the longest untech times in the game, this ender enables Neco-Arc to summon and still have time for a safe jump, a safe jump feint that becomes a low, and gnarly crossups that will make the opponent question their knowledge of the game.

Mainly, Neco-Arc can perform 623C > 5C whiff > jC ~ D for an ambiguous jump-in that can Option Select for invincible reversals should it whiff and a safejump through 623C > 2BC/421C > AID > jB (~D). If the opponent becomes savvy and tries to high Shield (which you can Shield back for anyways), she can replace the jB for a jC to drop low to the ground, ready for a 2A fatal counter.

The Corner(tm)

  • Guaranteed Eco/ Vtuber in the corner

Perform a j2B > 623A > (Spaced) 22C > MDA > Heat > 412B/1BC or 421A/421C in the corner with >30% for a guaranteed Eco/Vtuber summon. Eco is far more useful and circumvents the chance of getting Tmitter and losing the round. 1BC can also net additional summons. From Eco, can run unseeable strings and her power wave is AUB, enabling easy DP baits. On power wave hit, follow up with 236B into 236BC.

  • 623C corner steal

623A instead of 623B in the corner as a bridge to 623C saves a small amount of space behind the opponent. Neco can perform jC oki as usual, with the additional threat of a j[C] corner steal that nets a full combo. Should they respect that option with a high Shield, Neco-Arc can cross the opponent up with her float and punish with a combo into 623C knockdown.

  • Corner train oki (placeholder)*

Video instance

  • Flash & SOS sequence (placeholder)*

Video instance




Further Adventures (Esoterics and Advanced tech)

Whiff Canceling

Neco can cancel her 421B into any of her Ex (or C) special moves. This is critically important for many reasons: cancelling into 421C allows Neco to output summons faster than 421A/22B/22BC/421BC > 421C; canceling into 236C allows Neco cover her summons and herself against dash-happy opponents and mashers; 22C gives Neco immediate plus frames if the opponent is nearby, otherwise serving the same purpose as 236C; 623C can stuff a jump in or punish attempt from the opponent and grant Neco oki on the spot. Even if you do not actually special-cancel this move, it can discourage the opponent from trying to contest it and creates further RPS between you and the opponent.

She can also cancel other whiffed special moves into Ex moves, such as 236A/B, 22A, j214A/B, the Beam portion of 22[A], j236A/B, and 623A. Out of these, 236B, 22A and 623A can be made safe through a 22C cancel, and can be used as fodder for 421C if the opponent is respecting you, or as bait for a 623C.

Post Heat Hurtbox

421B and 1BC in the corner

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