Samurai Shodown V Special/Hanzo Hattori

服部 半蔵, Hattori Hanzo

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Introduction

As you may or may not know, Hattori Hanzo is a ninja. A real ninja, like a Japanese historical figure, reincarnated by SNK into the Samurai Shodown universe.

Hanzo is a very mobile character who can be very hard to pin down. He lacks some of the poking tools other characters have, namely an anti air. Being a ninja, he won't let that stop him. Using a combination of projectiles, mixups, and mindgames Hanzo will fight his way to victory. His command grab looks cool.

Strengths

Weaknesses

Very fast and damaging 2AB sweep with whiff cancel potential. Baku'en Ryuu controls a lot of space, deals good damage, and sets up tick throws and mixups. All of his specials can be used while unarmed, even his WFT! Very good command grabs that range from quick and weak to slow and damaging. His WFT is a command grab, too. Great mobility. Can punish from a distance with 66C, long range backdash with an early cancel window, and lots of teleports.

No high damage long range normals -- his 5AB slashes really suck. Backdash takes a long time to finish and can be easily punished with a good read. Low damage anti-airs. Mixups leave him wide open if blocked or whiffed. Doesn't get good damage outside of punishes.

Data

• Damage taken: 110%
• Rage duration: 20 seconds
• Amount to rage: 34
• Walk speed: 576
• Backwalk speed: 512
• Dash speed: 1900
• Jump duration: 49 frames
• Width: 8
• Throw range: 16

Normals

Far Slashes

5A: Not an awful poke, but 5B is generally better at its effective ranges. Special cancel is useful for canceling into teleports and projectiles, more so further out than up close (like off a wiffed or max range poke).

5B: Good range and speed, your primary all around poking move. Recoil on block is useful for going into Baku'en Ryu. NOT special cancel.

5AB: Incredibly awful and useless.

2A: Not very fast but good on block making it useful for tick throws. Special Cancel.

2B: A little faster than 5B, but inferior range and recovery. Special cancel.

2AB: Very important punishing move, cancel it into 8BC. Special cancel.

Near Slashes

n.5A: Not a bad poke, good for tick throws.

n.5B: Faster than far B and has special cancel.

n.5AB: Better than his far AB but still really bad.

n.2A: N/A

n.2B: N/A

n.2AB: N/A

Kicks

5C: Really ghetto anti air that needs to be done early and does no damage, meaning it's not much of an anti air. I don't reccomend using this move it's not worth the risk at all, as a shallow jumpin could easily trade or stuff it.

6C: Low hit, can be useful as a punisher or a poke in some situations.

2C: Really important poke, used for tick throws as just as a safe poke in general. Not to be overused, though.

3C: A really long range sweep, often can catch people off guard at the beginning of a round granting you knockdown. Slow startup means you want to be careful to be a good distance when you use this move.

Jumping

j.A: For when you need something even faster than j.B.

j.B: Good air to air.

j.AB: Really average j.AB with downward hitbox, but not really amazing enough to be a good jumpin.

j.C: Pretty bad, hits at a weird angle with basically no active frames.

Dashing

66A: Like a dashing version of his 5A, therefor not very good.

66B: Sort of like a weak version of his 2AB, important in his dashing mixup.

66AB: Dashover crossup move. It makes you airborne so it will beat any attempts to throw cleanly. Also very important for dashing mixup.

66C: Amazing punishing tool and suprising poking tool. This move has a ton of forward momentum in addition to Hanzo's already fast (fastest) dash speed, allowing him to punish pretty much anything punishable even from far away. Also will catch people off guard who are not expecting a low from half the screen away. However it's unsafe on block if you are too close.

Unarmed

5S: Chest punch.

2S: Hanzo punches the opponent in the gut, being significantly more effective than the chest punch. It has a better hitbox and recovery.

j.S: Air punch.

66S: Chest punch that knocks down.

Pursuits

Pursuit - 2BC Usable after any of Hanzo's tech knockdowns, including the 63214BC.

Heavy Pursuit - 8BC Any fireball knockdown or 2AB enables this.

System

Deflect - 216D: Deflects.

Weapon Pickup - 5A: Picks up weapon.

Taunt Disarm - Start Start Start: Hanzo puts his weapon down behind him after taunting. Hanzo can sometimes self-disarm after sending a slow fireball (214+B) but before it connects.

Sankaku Tobi - j.9 or j.3 near wall: Wall jump.

Backdash - 44: Hanzo does a handstand into backflip across about half the screen, the distance covered makes it a really effective movement and escape tool. In addition to that, it's special cancelable during the handstand into any of his grounded specials (even grab), as well as j.236S. Being able to do this cancel is a vital part of Hanzo's game.

Specials

Ninpou: Baku'en Ryuu - 214S: (can be used unarmed) One of the better projectiles in the game, Baku'en Ryuu is a key move for Hanzo. He summons a flaming slinky which has a large and hard to get around hitbox. People moving recklessly will get hit by it easily. 214A: Fastest startup, slowly travels about half the screen before dissipating. 214B: Medium startup, slowly travels across the whole screen. 214AB: Slowest startup, but travels full screen very quickly which can catch people off guard.

Reppuu Shuriken - j.236S: (can be used unarmed) Throwing star projectile from the air with godawful recovery. It actually hits overhead so you can catch people off guard with it sometimes. You can also do this move from Hanzo's backdash. He throws more projectiles if you press a heavier slash button.

Ninpou Shizune - 22S: (can be used unarmed) Hanzo does a teleport animation then phases out briefly before reappearing. This move is very useful both as a feint to his other teleports, and moreso as a bait against grabs and pokes. You can sort of think of this move as a 2D that you can cancel into with shorter duration.

Ninpou Enbu - 421 + Any: (can be used unarmed) Hanzo does a teleport animation then goes into one of 4 different teleports. Generally considered to be too slow to be useful against an experienced player, however if a Baku'en Ryuu setup is involved it can be quite tricky. 421A: Teleports to the left side of the screen, then hops out from behind a curtain into the air, you can do an air attack on the way down. 421B: Teleports to the left side of the screen, then flickers a moment before completely recovering. 421C: Teleports to the right side of the screen, then hops out from behind a curtain into the air, you can do an air attack on the way down. 421D: Teleports to the right side of the screen, then flickers a moment before completely recovering.

Mozu Otoshi - 623S, 6623S: (can be used unarmed) Hanzo's command grab, probably his most defining move along with Baku'en Ryuu. Damage is unaffected by character defenses, which is nice against guys like Gedo. Normally you will be using this move from a roll forward (cancelled), or sometimes a dash when a Baku'en Ryuu setup is involved. 623A: Fastest version of the grab and probably the one you will use the most. 623B: More damage but slower, least useful version, but timing makes it easy to tick throw with off a close A slash attack. 623AB: Very strong damage and quite slow. A very useful mixup and punishing tool. Slightly better range than the others, too. Mozu Otoshi (Hayate) - 6623S: Can only be used after dashing for a certain period (~half the screen), and will always come out over the other versions so long as you cancel from a dash. Speed is the same as the A version, but it recovers almost twice as fast. Hanzo has forward momentum during the startup and it positions both characters more towards your back than the other versions. At more than half-screen separation, it is useful to dash into this command throw immediately after sending an A or B fireball. This works when they are far enough that the A fireball will expire before reaching them, leaving them in a throwable state. The B fireball trick is better for bigger separation, as at max range Hanzo can actually dash in front of the fireball and throw them before they start blocking the fireball. The threat of this combination will force many characters to jump over slow fireballs.

Ninpou Utsusemi Tenbu - 63214S: (can be used unarmed) Hanzo teleports, then wait for the opponent to be on the ground if they aren't already before showing up and doing a pre-designated attack. Also generally considered to be too slow to be effective against an experienced player, and an unsafe mixup. Only real use is that it will generally stuff retaliations against the teleport attack so if your opponent just mashes pokes every time you do a teleport move, this will probably beat it. Ninpou Utsusemi Tenbu - 63214AC: Comes in from the air with an overhead attack, it's reactable. Ninpou Utsusemi Chizan - 63214BC: Comes in from the ground crouching, and does a 2AB look-alike (not cancelable).

Migawari no Jutsu - 6464642S: (can be used unarmed) What the heck is that input!? Hanzo leaves behind a log and appears elsewhere to counterattack his enemy, can only be used from hitstun. It becomes more difficult to do the shorter the attack, so use it for punishing long multihit moves and heavy attacks with a ton of hitstun like Haoh's AB. It might be better if you think of this as [64]x3 > 2 > S. Or alternatively [64]xN > 2 > S. So long as you make sure you end at 4~2. Try to mash [64] throughout the hitstop and then time the down input with the end of hitstop. Migawari no Jutsu: Hotoke - 6464642AC: Counterattack from the air (overhead). Migawari no Jutsu: Oni - 6464642BC: Counterattack from the ground (low).

Kuuten Geki - j.[1/2/3/4/6]C: (can be used unarmed) Airthrow. While it's not listed on the frame data, it does a fixed 21 damage. As with all airthrows, you have to do it from slightly below the opponent.

Shin Mozu Otoshi - 236CD - WFT: (can be used unarmed) Like his 623A, but a little slower and does huge damage. 5F startup and ability to be used from dashes/rolls means it's a great punisher for just about anything. Can sneak it in as a tick throw on respectful or bewildered opponents. Be warned that it is not invulnerable.

Combos

Normal

• 2AB xx 8BC Bread n' Butter, punish anything you can with it, also combos off deep jumps.
• 214S 8BC Useful confirm for adding threat to your projectiles, just go into 2BC if you confirm late.
• (3C or 66C or 66B) 2BC Make your sissy moves do slightly more damage.
• 6C 8BC

Time slow

Nothing special here, his AB attacks other than 2AB are all very laggy during Time Slow making them not very useful. Get in as many 5Bs in as you can before meter runs out before using Issen. If you need to start from a dash use dashing A since it's your only dash attack that doesn't knock over.

However, Time Slow is a good chance for Hanzo to land his 623AB outside of a punish.

Strategies

Neutral Game

Hanzo's neutral game is really heavily reliant more than anything on his very fast dash, and very fast/cancelable backdash. Dash under bad jumps, backdash out of dodge to avoid unnecessary risks. When you have enough breathing room try to get out a 214B/AB, or just 214A if you don't have much time. Once you have a fireball out their options are very limited and you can start to turn things in your favor. Also be looking for opportunities to land dash in grab / 66C.

Hanzo may not do a lot of damage all at once except for when punishing with 2AB or 623AB, but he can annoy people into making those mistakes.

Dashing Mixups

Without Baku'en Ryuu

Knockdown...

> Dash, AB Crossup, beats most DPs by means of avoiding them entirely.

> Dash, B Uncrossup, low, combos into 2BC.

> Dash, 623A If you dashed far enough, the dashing version will come out, using a normal grab will work just fine.

With Baku'en Ryuu

Knockdown...

> 214AB Doesn't actually grant you any followup, but it's pretty much inescapable, eats wakeup jumps / mashes / whathaveyou for free. Isn't generally needed unless you are especially far.

> 214A/B... Most common option, both give time for followup, use 214B when you are outside of 214A range.

> Dash, BR blocked...

> Dashing AB

> Dashing B

> tick into Dashing 623A

> Crossup 421B/C... Depending on how far you were and how fast you did the teleport, the projectile may or may not crossup.

> 623A

> BC

> 2AB

> 214A... This is from outside of 214A range, meaning it's a bluff.

> Dashing AB

> Dashing B

> tick into Dashing 623A

• You can also roll into your command grabs if you so please, sometimes you can use it to roll through an attack.

Teleport Mindgames

While Hanzo's teleports are rather iffy as ambiguous mixup, they do have a lot of mindgame potential, especially once you start canceling into them.

Hanzo's fastest teleport is actually his teleport feint, 22S. Probably the one you want to be using the most as well since there's much less risk involved. A simple practical use for it is to 22S just outside of your opponents effective range, and as they wait for the followup dash in and 66C or regular/command grab.

For example, off a knockdown in the corner you're unable to go into much of a dashing mixup. As your opponent stands up you can do 22S and on reappearing 623A for a tick throw to get around the huge throw protection window on wakeup. You can also cancel into any of his teleports off a wiffed special cancelable poke, or his backdash, giving you even more options.

Here's another example: Close 5B (blocked) > 22A > Grab. Same situation right? Obviously they are going to catch on. Next time do close 5B (blocked) > 421B/D (whichever teleports you away) > 66C to punish a wiffed poke. You can really do anything after teleporting back, but the idea is to do something they never thought you could do. For the record, 22A > 2AB is faster than 63214BC and is also much safer.

Further expanding on that possibility, you could 5B (blocked) > 22A > 2AB > cancel recoil into something else / confirm into 2BC. As you can see the possibilities are basically only limited by your imagination.

Frame Data

Move	Damage	Startup	Active	Total	Cancel	Weapon Clash	Hit Adv.	Backhit Adv.	Block Adv.	Guard	Notes
5A	5	9	2	26	8~26(18)	8(1)	-6	-6	-3	Mid	Weak attack, Deflectable(weak)
5B	11	13	2	38	x	10~12(3)	-7	+1	-9	Mid	Medium attack, Deflectable(med)
5AB	5, 24	34	5	77	x	-	-4	+6	-21	Mid	Medium, Heavy attack, Deflectable(heavy)
2A	5	8	1	20	8~12(5)	-	-2	-2	-3	Mid	Weak attack, Deflectable(weak)
2B	7	10	2	34	10~27(18)	-	-6	+2	-9	Mid	Medium attack, Deflectable(med)
2AB	28	14	2	48	18~21(4)	-	KD	KD	-21	Low	Knockdown attack
n.5A	4	9	2	23	9~23(15)	5~8(4)	-4	-4	-3	Mid	Weak attack, Deflectable(weak)
n.5B	7	9	3	35	9~35(27)	5~8(4)	-8	+0	-9	Mid	Medium attack, Deflectable(med)
n.5AB	5, 24	22	3	80	25(1)	26~32(6)	-10	+0	-21	Mid	Medium, Heavy attack, Deflectable(heavy)
n.2A	5	8	1	20	8~12(5)	-	-2	-2	-3	Mid	Weak attack, Deflectable(weak)
n.2B	7	10	2	34	10~27(18)	-	-6	+2	-9	Mid	Medium attack, Deflectable(med)
n.2AB	28	14	2	48	18~21(4)	-	KD	KD	-21	Low	Knockdown attack
5C	6	6	4	32	1~32(32)	-	-8	+0	-21	Mid	Medium attack
6C	6	9	6	28	x	-	KD	KD	-14	Low	Knockdown attack
2C	2	5	4	16	x	-	-1	-1	-6	Low	Weak attack
3C	7	9	10	34	x	-	KD	KD	-20	Low	Knockdown attack
j.A	6	9	3	24	x	-	--	--	--	High	Weak attack, Deflectable(weak) Sword tip unhittable
j.B	9	11	1	34	x	-	--	--	--	High	Medium attack, Deflectable(med)
j.AB	24	13	3	51	x	-	--	--	--	High	Heavy attack, Deflectable(heavy)
j.C	4	6	4	22	x	-	--	--	--	High	Medium attack
ju.C	4	6	4	22	x	-	--	--	--	High	Medium attack
5BC	16	20	4	41	x	-	KD	KD	-15	High	Medium attack Knockdown attack
u.5BC	6	25	2	67	1~13(13)	-	KD	KD	-36	High	Medium attack Knockdown attack
66A	6	9	2	29	1~8(8)	-	-2	+6	-21	Mid	Medium attack, Deflectable(heavy)
66B	9	7	2	36	1~6(6)	-	KD	KD	-21	Low	Knockdown attack
66AB	14	22	6	55	1~16(16)	-	KD	KD	-29	Mid	Knockdown attack
66C	4	3	10	29	1~2(2)	-	KD	KD	-21	Low	Knockdown attack
u.5S	4	5	5	24	x	-	-1	+7	-14	Mid	Medium attack
u.2S	4	5	2	21	x	-	+2	+10	-11	Mid	Medium attack Extended arm unhittable
ju.S	4	25	14	25	x	-	--	--	--	High	Medium attack
u.66S	4	5	10	16	1~14(14)	-	KD	KD	-6	Mid	Knockdown attack
u.66C	4	3	10	29	1~2(2)	-	KD	KD	-21	Low	Knockdown attack
2BC	6	16	3	49	x	-	--	--	--	Mid
u.2BC	4	9	4	21	x	-	--	--	--	Mid
8BC	12	39	3	84	x	-	--	--	--	Mid
u.8BC	6	39	5	80	5~20(16)	-	--	--	--	Mid
Ninpou Baku'en Ryuu - 214A	12	27	x	52	x	-	KD	KD	-13	Mid	Knockdown attack
Ninpou Baku'en Ryuu - 214B	14	31	x	59	x	-	KD	KD	-16	Mid	Knockdown attack
Ninpou Baku'en Ryuu - 214AB	16	34	x	63	x	-	KD	KD	-17	Mid	Knockdown attack 1-10f throw invincible
Reppu Shuriken - j.236A	8	15	x	x	x	-	-26	KD	-51	High	Medium attack
Reppu Shuriken - j.236B	8x2	17	x	x	x	-	-9	KD	-45	High	Medium attack
Reppu Shuriken - j.236AB	8x3	21	x	x	x	-	-8	KD	-40	High	Medium attack
Mozu Otoshi - 623A	18	3	1	43	x	-	KD	KD	KD	Mid	Fixed damage.
Mozu Otoshi - 623B	24	7	1	37	x	-	KD	KD	KD	Mid	Fixed damage.
Mozu Otoshi - 623AB	40	13	1	38	x	-	KD	KD	KD	Mid	Fixed damage.
Mozu Otoshi - 6623S	16	3	1	24	x	-	KD	KD	KD	Mid	Fixed damage.
Ninpou Utsusemi Tenbu - 63214AC	15	?	10	?	x	-	KD	KD	-37	High	Knockdown attack
Ninpou Utsusemi Tenbu - u.63214AC	10	?	10	?	x	-	KD	KD	-37	High	Knockdown attack
Ninpou Utsusemi Chizan - 63214BC	20	12	2	44	x	-	KD	KD	-27	Low	Knockdown attack 1-6f fully invincible 7-13f throw invincible
Ninpou Utsusemi Chizan - u.63214BC	14	12	9	38	x	-	KD	KD	-21	Low	Knockdown attack 1-5f fully invincible 6-32f throw invincible
Migawari no Jutsu: Hotoke - 6464642AC	15	?	10	?	x	-	KD	KD	-37	High	Knockdown attack
Migawari no Jutsu: Hotoke - u.6464642AC	10	?	10	?	x	-	KD	KD	-37	High	Knockdown attack
Migawari no Jutsu: Oni - 6464642BC	20	12	2	44	x	-	KD	KD	-27	Low	Knockdown attack 1-6f fully invincible 7-13f throw invincible
Migawari no Jutsu: Oni - u.6464642BC	14	12	9	38	x	-	KD	KD	-21	Low	Knockdown attack 1-5f fully invincible 6-32f throw invincible
Ninpou Shizune - 22S	x	x	x	26	x	-	--	--	--	Mid	21-26f fully invincible
Shin Mozu Otoshi - 236CD	45	5	1	43	x	-	KD	KD	KD	Mid