Skullgirls/Cerebella/Team Building

Overview

Combos

Mixups

Team Building & Assist Combos

Strategy

Links

#SG_CER

Assist Strategies

• Conversions: Cerebella benefits a lot from an assist that lets her convert off Dynamo and Diamond Drop. These moves are very important to Cerebella's gameplan and don't normally have a meterless followup midscreen. The ability to combo off these moves provides much more reward when these moves land.
  • Examples for midscreen Diamond Drop (except Beo/Band): Cilia Slide, H Bypass
  • Examples for midscreen Dynamo: M Beat Extend (Big Band), M Buer (Painwheel), Butcher's Blade, Hairball.

• Lockdown: She can also benefit from assists that have lengthy blockstun or slow startup that allow her to use her normally unsafe moves, primarily Battle Butt, and stay safe. This not only gives her a safe defensive tool with Battle butt + assist, but also enhances Battle Butt as a poking tool which can be very strong.
  • Examples: L George, Butcher's Blade, Theonite Beam, Brass Knuckles, Hairball, H Drill (Fukua), Tear Shot.

• Frontloaded Damage: Single-hit assists that launch and knock down give Bella a scary amount of frontloaded damage in the corner, since they allow use of Battle Butt and 6HP early in the combo.
  • Examples: Brass Knuckles, H Hurl (Beowulf), Dive of Horus (Eliza), H Buer (Painwheel), Napalm Pillar (Parasoul)
  • Example route using H Hurl.

DHCs

• She can continue a combo with Dynamo without meter if she ends up putting the opponent in the corner and has OTG. She can also combo midscreen with the right assist making this an even stronger option.
• Diamonds (Level 3) is good damage, allows for a follow-up, and (mostly?) safe on block.
• Her 360 can be DHC'd out of after the most damaging hit. Examples of DHCs allow a continued combo are; SBO, Lenny, Hatred Install, Beast of Gehenna, Airwulf (with hype).

Assist Combos

Note: "5LPx2 etc" means an ender string of your choice, see the ender strings section for a list of options.

H Brass Knuckles

An extremely strong assist for corner combos, and still a decent assist midscreen. The initial hit has very high damage (1750), but has 87.5% damage scaling.

Bella/Brass YouTube playlist

Notation	Damage	Meter Cost	Location	Character Specific?	Notes	Video
2LK 2MP 5HP+Brass Kanchou 2MK jMP jHK 5HP Pummel 2MP 5HP RS 2LK 2MP 5HP RS 5LPx2 etc Dynamo	8900	1	Midscreen	Universal	Midscreen Kanchou combo with Brass in the first chain. Doesn't use OTG. See video for more details.	(video)
2LK 2MP 5HP Kanchou OTG 2HK+Brass Pummel 2MP 5HP RS 2LK 2MP 2HP jLPxN jHP 5LPx2 etc Dynamo	8900	1	Midscreen	Universal	Different variation of the above that uses Brass in the second chain. Uses OTG. Use sHK instead of cHK to lose 100 damage and save OTG (see video). See video for more details.	(video)
2LK 2MP 5HP butt+brass 6HP Excella OTG 5LK dl 5MK dl 5HP Pummel 2MP 2HP jLPxN jHP 5LPx2 etc	10300	1	Corner	Universal	Extremely high damage universal corner combo. Input Butt+Brass with [4]6LKHP or [4]6MKHP depending on team order. This has to be during 5HP's hitstop on heavier characters or Brass won't come out quickly enough. Excella 5LK is a difficult link on heavies, particularly Big Band. Video includes a workaround that swaps LP and LK that loses about 100 damage. Uses OTG.	(video)
MGR OTG 2LK 2MP 5HK Brass Pummel 2MP 2HP jLPxN jHP 2MK jMP jHK 2LK 2MP 5HP RS 5LPx2 etc Dynamo	7670	1	Anywhere	Universal	Midscreen MGR combo. Works in the corner too, but you should definitely learn the corner-only version below if you're learning this. 5LK after jHK does more damage, but it can whiff on some characters without microdash. 2LK is recommended for consistency. See video for more details.	(video)
MGR OTG 2MK 5HK Butt+Brass 2MK jMP jHK 5HP Pummel 2MP 5HP RS 2LK 2MP 5HP RS 5LPx2 2MK 6HP Copter Dynamo	8244	1	Corner	Universal	Corner MGR combo. Good damage for a throw starter. See video and the description for more details.	(video)
DDrop OTG 2HK Butt+Brass 2MK jMP jHK 5HP Pummel 2MP 5HP RS 2LK 2MP 5HP RS 5LPx2 etc	8419	1	Corner	Everyone except Band	Conversion after Diamond Drop when close enough to the corner. Very good damage. Also works after 360 Horns. DDrop 2HK is a 3f link on Beo, and not possible on Band. Recommended to use 2HP on Beo, and 5MK on Band. See video for more details.	(video)
DDrop OTG 2HK Butt+Brass 6HP Horns 2MK Horns 5LK 5MK 5HP Pummel 2MP 5HP RS 5LPx2 etc	8914	1	Corner	Lights	Lights-specific version of the above. Absurd damage for a throw starter.	(video)

M Beat Extend

Not very damaging by itself, but has excellent utility value. It's Band's best conversion assist off of DDrop/Dynamo, and enables some high damage strings such as OTG 2HK Butt+assist.

Notation	Damage	Meter Cost	Location	Character Specific?	Notes	Video
2LK 2MP 5HP Kanchou otg 2HK Butt+M Beat 5MK 5HP Pummel 2MP 2HP jLPxN jHP (dash) 5LPx2 etc	9000	1	Midscreen	All except Band	Midscreen damage route. For the Butt+M Beat timing, try tapping macro once to call assist and then again to input Butt. This isn't necessary in corner combos.	(video)
2LK 2MP 5HP Kanchou 6HP+M Beat 5MK 5HP Pummel 2MP 5HP RS 2/5LK 2MP 5HP RS 5LPx2 etc Dynamo OTG Butt (sparks)	9040	1	Midscreen	All except Parasoul	Different midscreen route that doesn't consume OTG and notably works on Big Band. It's also very hard to drop on him because the fHP will never miss - at worst it'll consume OTG. Most of the combo works on Parasoul, just not the otg Butt at the end. otg Butt requires a kara 5HK on some light characters.	(video)
2LK 2MP 5HP delay Butt+MBeat 2MK jMP jHK 5HP Pummel 2MP 5HP RS 5LK 5HK Copter Dynamo wait otg 5LPx2 etc	9262	1	Corner	Universal	Pretty practical corner BnB that does solid damage. Delay Butt+M Beat to make M Beat hit only once on most characters. On Val/Robo/Band it always hits twice, which does a bit less damage due to scaling. 5HP RS 5LK link can be substituted with 2LK to make it easier by 1f while sacrificing a small amount of damage. OTG 5LPx2 is universal, but you need to wait for them to bounce.	(video)
2LK 2MP 6HP otg Butt+M Beat 5MK delay 5HP Pummel 2MP 2HP jLPxN jHP 2LK 2MP 5HP RS 5LPx2 etc Dynamo	9400	1	Corner	Universal	Uses a more difficult hitconfirm than the above combo to add about 100 damage.	(video)
2LK 2MP 6HP otg Butt+M Beat 6HP Horns 2MK Horns 5MP 2HP jLPxN jHP 5LK 5HP RS 5LPx2 etc	10100	1	Corner	Lights	Lights-only corner combo that does very high damage and is reasonably practical with some practice.	(video)
MGR otg 2LK 2MP 6HP+M Beat run Kanchou 2MK jMP jHK 5HP Pummel 2MP 5HP RS 2LK 2MP 5HP RS 5LPx2 etc Dynamo	7828	1	Midscreen	Universal	Midscreen MGR conversion that does about as much as a solo BnB off 2LK.	(video)
MGR OTG 2MK 5HK (delay) Butt+M Beat (walk back) 5MK 5HP Pummel 2MP 2HP jLPxN jHP 5LK 2MP 5HP RS 5LPx2 etc Dynamo	8000	1	Corner	Universal	Corner MGR conversion. Also works with into-corner DDrop. The delay is mandatory on Beo/Band, but on other characters it can be omitted to make M Beat hit twice, which adds about 50 damage. It will always hit twice on Val/Robo/Band. If not delaying, start walking out of the corner immediately after Butt.	(video)
DDrop OTG 2HK Butt+M Beat 5MK 5HP Pummel 2MP 2HP jLPxN jHP 5LK 2MP 5HP RS 5LPx2 etc Dynamo	8100	1	Corner	All except Band	Into-corner DDrop conversion. Doesn't work on Band, use the above combo on him instead.	(video)
CH Dynamo OTG 6HP+M Beat run Kanchou 5MK 5HP Pummel 2MP 2HP jLPxN jHP 5LPx2 etc Dynamo	6500	1	Midscreen	Universal	Midscreen Dynamo conversion. Does 6.9k with non-CH DDrop Dynamo starter.	(video)
CH Dynamo OTG 2HK Butt+M Beat 5MK 5HP Pummel 2MP 2HP jLPxN jHP 5LPx2 etc Dynamo	6600	1	Corner	Universal	Corner Dynamo conversion. Does not need CH Dynamo to work, but the listed damage is with CH because raw Dynamo is usually CH. Does 7k with non-CH DDrop Dynamo starter.	(video)
CH 6HP OTG 2HK Butt+M Beat 2MK jMP jHK 5HP Pummel 2MP 5HP RS 5LK 2HP jLPxN jHP 5LPx2 etc Dynamo	11400	1	Corner	Universal	Corner punish off an air burst bait. Extremely high damage. Example burst bait setups: 2MK RS 7jLP* jMP* 2HP, neutral jump, double jump back jLP* jMP*	(video)

H Train

Trading in utility for pure damage, H Train gives Cerebella high damage potential at the cost of neutral.

Notation	Damage	Meter Cost	Location	Character Specific?	Notes	Video
5LK 2MP 5HP Kanchou 6HP + Assist Run 5MK 5HP Pummel 2MP 5HP RS 5LK 2MP 5HP RS 5LPx2 2MK 6HP Excella Dynamo OTG 6HP	10000	1	Midscreen	Universal	Midscreen combo, triggers undizzy on 6HP ender	(video)

Cilia Slide

Clide is one of Bella's best combo assists, especially midscreen. It does a decent chunk of damage by itself (1000), picks up from DDrop/Dynamo, and allows high-damage combinations like OTG Butt+Clide.

Bella/Clide YouTube playlist

Notation	Damage	Meter Cost	Location	Character Specific?	Notes	Video
2LK 2MP 5HP Kanchou (Horns) OTG Butt+Clide 2MK jMP jHK 5HP Pummel 2MP 5HP Runstop 5LPx2 etc Dynamo	8856	1	Midscreen	Universal	Reliable midscreen combo with solid damage. Like any Kanchou combo it works close to corner, but not when your back is close to corner. Optional Horns after Kanchou that adds ~400 damage, only works on lights and some mediums. Sets up a strong 5LK reset point after Butt+Clide.	(video)
2LK 2MP 5HP Kanchou 5HP Butt+Clide backwalk or backdash sMK sHP Pummel 2MP 2HP jLPxN jHP 5LP 2MP 5HP Copter Dynamo	9193	1	Midscreen	Universal	Optimal but tricky midscreen combo. The sMK sHP restand is most difficult on lights. Backdashing under them before sMK can make it hit same side and eliminate the spacing problem, but that's also difficult. Sets up a strong 5LK reset point after Butt+Clide.	(video)
2LK 2MP 5HP 236MP+Clide Kanchou 2MK jMP jHK 5HP Pummel 2MP 2HP jLP(xN) jHP 5LP(x2) 5MP 5HP 623HP 236PP	~9k	1	Midscreen	Non-Band/Double	A midscreen Kanchou combo that uses a different hit confirm of MLnL+Clide Does not use OTG, so if you reach the corner after Dynamo you can fit in another Dynamo or a burstable Butt	(video)
MGR OTG 2LK 2MP 5HK Clide Kanchou 2MK jMP jHK 5HP Pummel 2MP 5HP RS 2LK 2MP 5HP RS 5LPx2 etc Dynamo	7681	1	Anywhere	Universal	Universal MGR combo. Like any Kanchou combo it works close to corner, but not when your back is close to corner. Can just omit the Kanchou if that's the case.	(video)
DDrop OTG 6HP+Clide 2MK jMP jHK 5HP Pummel 2MP 5HP RS 2LK 2MP 5HP RS 5LPx2 etc Dynamo	7866	1	Anywhere	Non-Beo/Band	DDrop conversion that works anywhere on the screen.	(video)
2LK 2MP 6HP+Clide Kanchou Horns OTG 6HP Horns 2MK Horns 2MP 6HP Horns 5LK 2MK Horns 5LPx2 etc Dynamo	10930	1	Corner	Lights	Very difficult Devil Horn loops on lights that deal exceptional damage.	(video)

M Hornet Bomber

In addition to being a lockdown assist, Hornet Bomber can tape damage and corner carry onto most routes. Bella works with it really well midscreen thanks to her command run.

Notation	Damage	Meter Cost	Location	Character Specific?	Notes	Video
5LK 2MP 5HP Kanchou OTG 2HK+Bomber run Pummel 2MP 2HP jLPxN jHP 2LK 2MP 5HP RS 5LPx2 etc	8600	1	Midscreen	Universal	Midscreen combo that looks cool and does a bit more damage than the normal Kanchou bnb. OTG Butt instead of 2HK does ~200 more damage but is harder / less consistent. Micro-backdash OTG 6HP is even more damaging / difficult. May not be universal.	(video)
2LK 2MP 5HP (call Bomber) Butt 6HP Excella OTG 5LK 5MP 2HP jLPxN jHP 5MK 5HP Pummel microdash 5LPx2 etc	9700	1	Corner	Universal	Corner bnb that does solid damage. Awkward assist call timing to make bomber undizzyless. If it uses undizzy just omit 5MP 6HP instead of 5HP in first string does +600 damage, but is much more difficult and makes undizzyless bomber impossible.	(video)
CH 6HP OTG 2HK Butt+Bomber 2MK jMP jHK 5HP Pummel 2MP 5HP RS 2LK 2HP jLPxN jHP 5LPx2 etc	11400	1	Corner	Universal	Corner air burst bait punish (eg. off 2MK RS 7jLP jMP, or 2HP double jump back jLP jMP)	(video)
CH 6HP+M Hornet Bomber 2MK jMP jHK 5HP Pummel 2MP 2HP jLPxN jHP 5LPx2 2MK 6HP Copter Dynamo OTG 5LK 2MK 6HP Copter	10734	1	Corner	Universal	Heavy counter hit combo. Can be a ground/air burst bait punish. See video description for more details.	(video)

L/H Hornet Bomber

Like M Bomber, but smaller and bigger respectively. L Bomber hits twice instead of three times.

A lot of M Bomber tech can be adapted to work with L/H, with slight adjustments.

L Bomber Corner HCH combo (video)

H Bypass

Probably Bella's best overall combo assist. Similar to Clide in utility, but hits harder (1275) and has more horizontal and vertical range.

However, it has much more startup than Clide and doesn't launch the opponent as high, so it can be more difficult to use in some cases.

Notation	Damage	Meter Cost	Location	Character Specific?	Notes	Video
2LK 2MP 5HP MLNL+bypass 2MK jMP jHK 5HP Pummel 2MP 5HP RS 2LK 2MP 5HP RS 5LPx2 etc Dynamo OTG 6HP or Butt (green sparks)	9200-9300	1	Anywhere	Universal	Universal and practical combo that does solid damage and doesn't require OTG (though it uses OTG to tack on a slight amount of damage at the end). Does about 9.2k with OTG 6HP, and 9.3k with OTG points Butt. Midscreen OTG Butt after Dynamo works on everyone but Parasoul, but requires a kara 5HK on most light characters.	(video)
2LK 2MP 5HP Kanchou backdash OTG 6HP+bypass dash 5MK 5HP Pummel 2MP 5HP RS 2LK 2MP 5HP RS 5LPx2 etc	9400	1	Midscreen	Universal	High damage midscreen combo that is fairly practical. The backdash is not necessary on Band, Beo or Double, since 6HP will never whiff over the top of their hurtbox.	(video)
2LK 2MP 5HP Kanchou microwalk forward Horns OTG 6HP+bypass 5MK 5HP Pummel 2MP 2HP jLPxN jHP 5LPx2 etc	9600	1	Midscreen	Lights	Lights-only variation of the midscreen combo. Does more damage for similar difficulty. Technically also works on some mediums, but is quite tight/unreliable.	(video)
2LK 2MP 5HP Kanchou 6HP+bypass dash 5MK 5HP Pummel 2MP 5HP RS 2LK 2MP 5HP RS 5LPx2 etc Dynamo OTG 6HP or Butt (green sparks)	9600-9700	1	Midscreen	Universal	More optimal/difficult version of the above that doesn't use OTG on the Kanchou pickup, and uses it for an extra hit after Dynamo. This makes the pickup much more difficult. The Kanchou pickup is more difficult on light/small characters. Does about 9.6k with OTG 6HP, and 9.7k with OTG points Butt. Midscreen OTG Butt after Dynamo works on everyone but Parasoul, but requires a kara 5HK on most light characters.	(video)
2LK 2MP 5HP Kanchou 6HP+bypass dash 5MK 5HP Pummel 2MP 5HP RS 5LK 2HP Excella Dynamo OTG 2/5LP etc	9800-10000	1	Midscreen with back close-ish to corner	Universal	Version of the above that starts midscreen, but needs Dynamo to end in corner in order to do another chain afterwards. This combo only applies to a fairly small part of the stage, but you can use Pummel's long animation to decide whether you should go for it. Does up to 9900 damage with the optimal ender of 5LPx2 2MK 6HP Butt when the opponent is low on health. If you want to go for absolute max damage while sacrificing meter gain, replacing 2HP Excella with 5HP Copter does 10022 damage with the above optimal ender. OTG 5LPx2 works on everyone, but you need to wait for them to bounce first.	(video)
2LK 2MP 6HP (call bypass) OTG Butt 2MK jMP jHK 5HP Pummel 2MP 5HP RS 2LK 2MP 5HP RS 5LPx2 etc Dynamo	10010	1	Corner	Universal	Very high damage corner combo. The hitconfirm to 6HP is harder because it's slow and if you input it sloppily you get H LNL instead. Also, you need to call Bypass before butt. Everything else is pretty easy though. If you don't want to do this combo, do the universal anywhere combo with the optimal corner ender (5LPx2 2MK 6HP Copter Dynamo) for nearly 9.5k.	(video)
MGR OTG 2LK 2MP 6HP+bypass Pummel 2MP 5HP Kanchou 5MK 2HP jLPxN jHP 2LK 2MP 5HP RS 5LPx2 etc	8100	1	Midscreen	Universal	MGR midscreen combo. Instant Pummel may work better on larger characters, while small characters will probably need a short run into Pummel. Pummel needs to be done early enough such that it's a cancel from 6HP and thus doesn't use undizzy.	(video)
MGR OTG 2LK 2MP 6HP+bypass Pummel 2MK jMP jHK 2LK 2HP jLPxN jHP 5LPx2 etc	8050	1	Midscreen	Universal	Version of the above that has a more familiar Kanchou pickup, but is less optimal.
MGR/DDrop OTG 5LK 5MP 6HP+bypass Pummel 2MP 2HP jLPxN jHP 2MK jMP jHK 2LK 2MP 5HP RS 5LPx2 etc	8200	1	Corner	Universal	MGR / into-corner DDrop combo.	(video)
DDrop 6HP+bypass Pummel 2MP 5HP Kanchou 5MK 2HP jLPxN jHP 2LK 2MP 5HP RS 5LPx2 etc	8300	1	Midscreen	Not Beo/Band	Midscreen DDrop combo. Instant Pummel may work better on larger characters, while small characters will probably need a short run into Pummel. Pummel needs to be done early enough such that it's a cancel from 6HP and thus doesn't use undizzy. If the 5MK pickup from Kanchou is weird to you, then you can use the "more familiar Kanchou pickup" MGR route listed above that does slightly less damage.	(video)
DDrop Butt+bypass Pummel 2MP 5HP Kanchou 2MK jMP jHK 2LK 2MP 5HP RS 5LPx2 etc	8050	1	Midscreen	Beowulf	Midscreen DDrop combo that works on Beo specifically. It also happens to work on Eliza but there's no reason to do it on her when the above combo exists. Very difficult, definitely the most difficult conversion listed in this section.	(video)

External Links

• Skullgirls Team Building Guide - Cerebella