Vampire Savior/Felicia/Matchups
Matchups
Anakaris
This is not a fight to be underestimated. While this is generally regarded as the worst character, this fight can get out of hand very quick if you allow it. Anakaris is very good against checking your jumps and other approaches, and if he gets in, he can make it difficult for you to get out of trouble. All of that said, you have a lot of advantages in this MU that make it pretty in your favor.
- Cheese him
Due to the fact that Anakaris cannot pushblock, he is HIGHLY susceptible to cheese tactics. Felicia's happens to be the most dangerous one to Anakaris, which is close stand LP xx L Catspike. He is unable to crouch any of this, and if he is forced to block it (assuming you do not screw up), he can be chipped out and cannot do anything about it. You can even throw him if you so choose, which is another thing that the character is weak to. You do however have to watch for him attempting to GC you. This is incredibly unlikely, but if he does hit you with it, you can walk up to him and throw him ON HIT. This means that you can resume this. All of this said, you should never underestimate Anakaris, despite him being a crappy character. Most Anakaris players will generally avoid this situation and have the skill to do so however. This is still something that you can keep in your pocket should the situation arise.
- Pay attention to how he attempts to escape
If you have Anakaris in a corner, he's generally looking for a reason to escape. He may try to AA you off of a foolish jumpin, or he might try to teleport to the other side of the screen. If you see him do that, you can catch him teleporting and resume pressuring him if you are standing about 1/2 screen from him (most of the time they will stay where they are unless they sense that you are going to attack them). Remember that he also has an anti-pursuit attack move. If you like to pursuit, they may be trying to fish for this. If you are a Felicia that likes to do Pursuit, wait for him to do that. As long as you don't touch the pillar of light, you can strike him.
- Watch the AAs, but don't be afraid to jump if his AAs are poorly timed
Anakaris has this in spades, and is usually really good at hitting Felicia out of it. Many of the AA reset situations that he can provoke against you will cause him to get momentum to get his mixup going (divekick, lows, ES Mummy Throw), which can easily brutalize you. That said, he has issues that you can use against him, most notably that he is the tallest character in the game. He has unique multi-chain jumpins that work against him since he is so tall, as well as hitting him so high in the air. This can be just the edge you need to turn the tide against him. While most Anakaris players will not let you do this easily, it is possible to capitalize off of AA mistakes and automatically slam the scale in your favor.
- Watch his divekicks and general air attacks, but don't be afraid to disrespect it (Beware of disrespecting too much though)
If timed meaty or low enough, the divekicks are a serious problem that you need to be looking for. In these cases, you need to Pushblock it (GC could result in a baiting). You also need to watch for divekicks that go directly downward; These are typically used to fake a dive kick attempt, and go low instead. Especially in the corner, this is super dangerous. But any other time or spacing, you can strike his dive kicks and his other airborne attacks. If he uses kicks (the attacks that come from the ground) and you know they are coming, you can actually swing at the air beneath him and hit him out of it, since there are hurtboxes that appear before the attack actually comes out. You'd be surprise at what exactly you can strike to prevent Anakaris from doing things.
Aulbath
Pretty much an even matchup, but one you need to be wary of pressing buttons in, like anyone else, especially on your jumpins, since that is what Felicia likes to generally do. Usually, Felicia has an alright time cornering him and he is pretty easy to AA, as long as you are not stuck in the corner with imminent threat of Water Jail. Generally, Felicia needs to keep an eye out for these things:
- His Dash Attacks vs. Yours
Remember that if he is dashing toward you, his attacks become the crouching versions in this state, meaning that they are lows and mids. You have enough mobility to keep these in check, and your pokes should be sufficient to stop it. Remember that it needs to be treated like he is moving forward while crouched. Practice outpoking him while crouched, and you should be able to keep him in check, as this is one of his primary offense approaches. In Felicia's case, she can often use her dash to potentially threaten him charging Toxic Gas and Sonic Ray. Her dash is a good way to force Aulbath to whiff dash attacks against you as well.
- Aulbath's AA's are Very Weak
This applies a lot to Felicia since she jumps a lot. Realistically, Aulbath can only really AA you easily with Toxic Gas and Sonic Ray (which is covered in the next point), since a lot of his normals don't have a ton of verticality. He is a very horizontally based character, meaning that he is strongest when he is on the same plane as you are. If he has to AA you, he is going to have to stay mobile and use well placed normals, and that is easier said than done against Felicia. Additionally, he is a charge character, so some jumpins may be especially dangerous, since he may be forced to forfeit his charge to make sure he does not eat damage. That said, while his AAs are not the greatest, you cannot really jump in on him for free, which leads to the next point...
- Toxic Gas and Sonic Ray
Esepcially on poorly timed jumpin attempts, you may see yourself eating Sonic Ray or Toxic Gas a lot, and that leads Aulbath to get closer and closer to his objective, which is to corner you. Against these moves you have a couple options. If you are jumping in on him and he has charge ready, DO NOT PRESS BUTTONS, UNLESS YOU ARE 100% SURE YOU CLEARED THE JUMP OVER THE PROJECTILES. Additionally, you have the option to Rolling Buckler under both Toxic Gas and Sonic Ray, but you cannot do this against the ES counterparts.
- Water Jail
As usual, this is Aulbath's win condition on the entire cast, including Felicia. You are able to walljump to get out from the corner but this can be read by the Aulbath. You can also strike him if he puts himself out of position; Doing so pops the bubble, so you get to escape. The best solution to this situation is to not be there in the first place. If you are caught there, especially off of a knockdown, DO NOT ROLL FORWARD AT ALL (unless you can verify that Aulbath did it too close and your roll distance will safely get you out of there.)
Bulleta
This is not necessarily the most difficult fight, but there are things that she can do to make the fight really annoying. At times, she can be a pain in the ass to AA due to double jump, and she can also be a pain in the ass to get in on if she has charge for missile.
- Avoid her dash pressure and command throw attempts
While this is typically advice for any character fighting Bulleta, this is especially true here, since you are going to generally be in her effective range at all times, and you have ranges you are not effective. Normally, you can call this out with whiff punishing, and identifying times where Bulleta is attempting to Command Throw you, and poking her out, or even jumping out on fake attempts. Be warned though, if her pressure is tight enough, this can be very difficult to escape.
- The problems with Missle
This is probably going to be the biggest issue that you have to deal with fighting Bulleta, and likely the one that will piss you off the most.
- Double jump makes it really annoying to AA her, as well as some jumpins.
- Be careful at her upbacking you, and be careful of dashing in on her.
There are two points to discuss that go hand in hand here.
Bishamon
This matchup SUCKS. This is by far Felicia's worst MU of the entire cast. Bishamon has an answer to all of your approaches, and it makes getting any headway on him VERY difficult. It is not an impossible match by any stretch of the means, but it is a difficult match. Fortunately, he can be easily bullied if you get close to him, and he is not particularly difficult to AA either. You have to be aware of the following in this match:
- His Normals
Bishamon's normals alone have an answer to every single one of your approaches, and usually they are answers that beat you clean. While this is one of Bishamon's greatest advantages on you, it may also be one of his greatest disadvantages too. This is very dependent on the player that is using Bishamon. it is up to the Bishamon to be able to poke you out of stuff, as well as be able to AA you. If the Bishamon is not capable of doing that, then by all means, go ahead and jump in on him and do as you please. This will require you to understand the opponents habits, and make educated decisions on how to approach him.
- Iai Giri
Imagine a Sonic Boom from Guile, and you effectively get this game's Sonic Boom, only much faster and larger (and not a projectile). Bishamon will regularly use this to check against their opponents, and this move in particular gives Felicia a miserable time. In essense this is an answer to every single one of your approaches by itself. Remember though, it is a charge move, so while it is an effective move against you, it does have the standard weaknesses of a charge move. You can use Rolling Buckler to roll under High Iai Giri but you cannot do that against Low Iai Giri.
- Karame Dama
ANOTHER move that will impede all of your approaches. This only delta with this move is that this is the only Fireball move that will come into play in this matchup (not counting the Knee Breaker Board). Remember that the ES one is unblockable at a very specific range, and most Bishamons will say that the unblockable is generally easier to do on Felicia. It does hoever share the normal weaknesses of a fireball, so you can jump it with proper spacing, or roll under it. If for whatever reason you do get hit, it is better to get hit with it airborne.
- Guard Cancel
He has a Guard Cancel only move, and this move is pretty difficult to bait. If the Bishamon is good at GC's, then you may end up eating a ton of guard cancels worth of damage, especially if he is prepared for it. If you are jumping in on him, and he is good at Guard Cancels, YOU ARE ASKING FOR IT. Know that the ES version is not blockable at all.
Demitri
Demitri is a fairly straight forward match, but one that can be annoying. He has AA normals and a couple specials that can stop you in your tracks and make it really frustrating for you to get in. Even then, once you get in, you can run a typical poking/footsie gameplan on him. The major points that Felicia specifically has to deal with in this match are this:
- His Normals/Chains
He has a stand MK that is good at AA'ing people, and you will likely find yourself eating a bunch of AAs if you make your jumps predictable. Also with Demitri, a lot of the chains he uses will end in Crouch HK, which is one of, if not, THE longest range sweep in the game. It has a ton of range, and it shoves you really far out, so it is fairly difficult to try and contest. This is fine if this happens, since if you block it, you get shoved really far away, so you will have time to adjust your neutral as necessary.
- Chaos Flare
This move alone can deal with Felicia's approaches in the air and on the ground, and is one of the common ways that Demitri will impede your progress. This can potentially lead to dangerous situations for you if you are cornered and Demitri is preventing you from escaping. That said, there is effecively a "No Fireball" zone that Demitri cannot throw a fireball at you without risking getting jumped in on. Look for this zone, and you can jump in on him safely if you read that he is going to throw out Chaos Flare. Additionally, you may use Rolling Buckler to roll under the fireball. That said, improper spacing on this move is risky, since you could potentially get hit.
- Demon Cradle
The other move that Demitri will use to impede your progress, and is often the bane of Felicia's jumpin attempts. Be very careful with jumping in on Demitri, especially if Demitri is DP happy. A lot of the time, you can wait for Demitri to DP, and strike him as he is falling down from the reset. It is possible to do a full grounded punish, but that is 1 frame to punish the Light Demon Cradle (i.e. they are repeatedly mashing it). Most of the time though, you can generally strike at Demitri and cause resets constantly. Be careful with aiming this too soon though since you will get hit.
This can be baited if you do a max range Crouch LK, or a very deep jump in at max range.
- Midnight Pleasure
One of Demitri's most dangerous moves to you (or anyone for that matter). You generally need to stay mobile to avoid the situations that Demitri will try to Midnight Pleasure you. With that in mind, you can actually abuse your wakeup frames to do an ES Command Throw on Demitri if he attempts to Midnight Pleasure you on your wake up, but note that this only applies if Demitri knocked you down.
Felicia
This is a really annoying mirror match. She is able to handle herself well, and somehow has difficulty at the same time, since she is susceptible to her own attacks
- Your AAs vs. Her Jumpins
This is one of the most annoying aspects of the MU. Felicia is still very capable of AAs against another felicia, but it can easily be mistimed where it can trade or outright lose. You need to aim your AA attempts as high as you possibly can so that way you can beat any of her jumpins, especially J.HP. You need to be sure of your spacing and timing, otherwise you will trade or lose outright.
- Fully punish bad buckler attempts
Any and every missed buckler that you blocked can be full punished, since Felicia's walk speed is fast enough. You can walk up and do a full KD chain against her, or even punish with your own buckler if you so choose. This punish gets even more damage for her if you are cornered and you block it.
Gallon
Of the top tier characters, this is the one that she generally has the easiest time fighting. That said, this is still not a terribly easy match, and at times can prove quite difficult, especially if he gets you in his optimal range. There are plenty of times that you can have him locked down, but you must be careful to not let his speed overwhelm you. You do have a secret weapon against him that nullifies most of his offense in a neutral, non-cornered position: The Upback.
- Poke him out of things, but be REALLY careful when attempting to poke him out of Beast Cannon
- This Character is ALWAYS jumping, potentially more than YOU
- Upbacking works wonders in the MU defensively (but not in the corner)
Jedah
Also fairly obnoxious to AA. Jumps higher than a lot of Felicia's AAs can reach, including S.LK.
Lei-Lei
Bizarre matchup. Can be hard to get in on her, but is actually fairly easy to bully if you get in.
Lilith
A match you will find yourself grounded fighting her. Watch the DP, Watch the Fireballs, Watch the demons.
Morrigan
This is a fairly straightforward matchup. She is generally easy to handle in most cases, but there are some aspects to her that can pose a problem if you allow it. The main things to watch for is DPs, her dash pressure (especially if cornered), Darkness Illusion attempts, and not often, the fireballs. Fortunately she has a way to handle all of those.
- The DP Problem
This obviously will pose a problem to you since it is a DP and handles a lot of your approaches. This is generally the biggest problem to deal with, along with her dash pressure (which will be discussed later). Generally, if you suspect that there is a DP happy Morrigan, and you are airborne a lot, don't press buttons. This may discourage the Morrigan from doing DPs. Morrigans also like to do wakeup DP as well. Simply don't jump and stand slightly back, ready to block, or just stand out of range, You generally get pretty sizable punishes off of it. While this is generally standard advice for handling DPs, this is something that you have to be actively paying attention to, since it is a particularly powerful DP. Failure to do so may result in you eating a raw ES DP.
- The Dash Mixup Problem
While not as strong as other characters that utilize a similar mixup type (including yourself), it still can pose a problem that can keep you locked down, especially in the corner. You can poke it out at most ranges, but point blank can pose a problem, especially if you are in the corner. This can be especially deadly if you have to deal with throws too. This is usually pretty easy to spot, so if you are ever in a situation when you are forced to guard against this mixup, you can PB it or GC it if you block the aerial attack. You can do the same for any grounded normals, but GC could potentially be baited from this.
- Darkness Illusion
This is always a threat to you. She can randomly fish for it raw, or try to combo it. For the ones that like to do it raw, wait to bait it out. Blocking this can usually net you a punish if you block it and walk forward, since she bounces off of you. The Morrigans that are trying to combo it, you handle this in the same way you would off of any of their dash pressure, since that is the most common high-level way of employing this.
- Fireballs
This is typically of lowest concern to you in the match. You can generally roll under any grounded ones (except ES), and you can generally roll under the aerial fireballs, ES included. There is a no fireball zone that you can utilize by jumping over, or rolling under if you are close enough. The only fireballs you really have to be wary of is backdash EF Fireball. That is actually a pain to deal with, and does a pretty good job at keeping you locked down overall, if used at the right distances. Additionally, she can utilize this to mount an attack against you if you hit or block it.
Q-Bee
This is a character that is annoying to fight. She is not particularly easy to AA (unless you have her patterns down pat), and you have to deal with fairly obnoxious (but not unbeatable) buttons against her. You also need to be wary that she can get in on you, and since Felicia becomes a slightly weaker character at point-blank range. Remain mobile, and be on point with your AA's and you should be able to win. Here's the major points of this fight:
- Her grounded buttons
She has a couple of grounded normals that you need to be careful around, as they are good at keeping you at bay, and they are Stand and Crouch MP. There is a weakness here, and you are able to crouch Stand MP.
- AA'ing her is fairly difficult
This is one of the hardest things to deal with, since QBee is able to attack you at a ton of weird-to-AA angles. It is even harder, since QBee can float and delay when she drops. If she is trying to airdash at you at point blank, you can generally stuff it with stand LP. any further than that, you may use Crouch MP, Crouch MK, or Stand MK. The trick here is knowing how far away she is pushed back from you when she attacks. some attack strings QBee does leave her at the perfect distance for you to strike. (example QBee cr.LP > cr.LK > Cr MP... She jumps up to airdash at you, you stick out CR.MK and hit her). You need to be wary of when QBee is at point blank range though, since Felicia becomes an overall weaker character, and has weaker normals to work with at this range. It is overall harder to stop QBee when she is in this range. The best thing you can do is move, so that you are not in bad positions to begin with.
- Be careful of ES-CR
This hit grab is particularly annoying to Felicia since she tends to press buttons. QBee players like to fish for this and randomly do it, to see if they can grab you. Be very careful when attacking, since you may stick out a normal, and get hit for it. Be even more careful when intentionally trying to smack her for it. This move is very obnoxious to punish since she gets pushed really far back, and she recovers almost immediately. It is advised to not punish the attack at all because that could potentially open you up to getting attacked if you miss.
- Cracking QBee's Defense, and Oki
Another tricky part to deal with is QBee's wakeup. Since she has 3 different wakeup timings (as opposed to 2 wakeup timings like everyone else has), she is much harder to Oki. You need to have youir meaties on point, in order to keep QBee rooted to the ground. Dash LP is actually very good for this, since the button is active for a long time; It's good for QBee players that like to backroll or neutral wakeup. In regards to QBee's defense, it's another thing that you will have to crack. QBee likes to upback a lot, so you may find that you can approach and hit her with Stand Lk if she tries to do an airdash at you. In the corner, you can hit her with Close HK if you suspect that she is going to upback. You do need to be careful though, since she does have a real command throw that she can hit you with if you are getting too greedy.
Sasquatch
Definitely a jerk. Felicia can poke him out of stuff, but you have to be careful where you place your attacks.
Victor
Can be easy to bully, but at the same time, can be weirdly hard to AA due to his J.HP. Need to aim early on him.
Zabel
Overall one of the hardest matchups that you will need to deal with. This character is one that you need to remain mobile against AT ALL TIMES. Any mistake may lead to you getting caught in a blender and/or eating potentially 40% combos that cannot be blocked. In a lot of ways, you treat it somewhat similarly to Q-Bee, but you need to be even more careful, and even more spaced out, if possible.
- MOVE
This is not an option, you HAVE to remain mobile and spaced out at all times (recommended to be past 1/2 screen distance at all times). Zabel can cover a frankly insane amount of space in such a short time due to his speed and his Dhalsim-Style normals (that he can aim in different directions).
- Do what you can to keep him out of the air
- Avoid any situations that lead to unblockables
