Vampire Savior/Zabel/Archive

Overview

Combos

Matchups

Strategy

Misc.

Data

Archive

Introduction

Zabel Zarock (ザベル), the Undead Rockstar

A charismatic young rock star who engaged in ritualistic sacrifice during one of his concerts, killing himself & 100 of his fans. Taking notice of this, Emperor Ozom restored Zabel as an undead. Zabel was told that if he sought more power, he would have to defeat Darkstalkers and he became Ozom's personal assassin. Although Zabel appeared agreeable, his true intentions were to destroy Ozom and take his place as the new emperor.

Zabel, or sometimes called Bell, is the undisputed best-in-class character in VSAV. Although he is extremely powerful & effective, he takes a lot of work as his execution requirements are quick & timely. Zabel is recommended for players who are willing to put in the grind to reap the advantages of this glass-cannon extraordinaire.

Gameplay

Primary objective:

• Dominate mid-range with his best-in-class normals like 9MP, 9HK, 6MP, etc.
• Confirm air-resets & select anti-airs into UB 9LK setups
• Chase ground rolls for insane offensive mixups
• On the inside, advance with IAD offense or dashing frame-traps
• Combo with Renda LK into super for amazing burst damage & knockdown
• Use Hell Gate to escape disadvantageous interactions

Strengths

Weaknesses

Although his execution is tight, his IAD high/low offense is extremely effective Has an invincible escape Reversal that does not cost meter, which makes him tough to catch Moves during crouch, this makes him walk out of throw ranges at mid-screen Although the execution is tight, he has guaranteed meterless unblockable setups using 9LK His ES Guard Cancel disables ground rolls, this makes for a guaranteed UB setup Deals massive burst damage & can effectively chase ground rolls for high/low or left/right offense Numerous effective & disjointed command normals that own the mid-range Although it's a bug, he has Absolute Guard on the recovery of 9MP, making it a low-risk high-reward approach His Guard Cancel input is unique, it does not overlap with any other special. This makes for a strong GC option select Able to hold up+back and convert that into an air-to-ground opportunity with his air dash Most of his ground normals advance him forwards, he reliably gets full chains into knockdown. Although it's a bug, he has no lower hurt-box during jump start-up, making his defensive up+back less of a risk

Low Health His strongest options are gated behind his finesse, technicality, & demanding execution requirements

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Movement

Walk: Zabel's walk speed is about average.

Crouch: Zabel can crouch forward and backward by holding 3 or 1. Crouching has higher speed than walking. Crawling seems to eliminate Zabel's landing recovery from jumps, which is moderately useful.

Dash: Zabel crouches forward at higher speed. While dashing pressing any attack button will make Zabel perform the crouching version of the attack with some added momentum. This attack loses its ability to cancel and chain though. The dash can also be canceled by pressing 4. When the dash ends Zabel will stand up for some frames before he can crouch back again.

Jump: Zabel's jump distance is rather short.

Air dash: Pressing 44 or 66 in the air will make Zabel air dash. Pressing 4 or any attack button during the air dash will make Zabel fall down while performing the attack. Zabel can't airblock or chain during the air dash. If Zabel air dashes backward then his air 2K moves will also moves him backwards. The motion for an instant air dash (IAD) is 956. If done quickly enough Zabel will dash very close to the ground. Then you can cancel the IAD into another normal to make an air attack (must be blocked high) very close to the ground. This is a huge part of Zabel's pressure/mixup game, it helps him cover grounds quickly and makes blocking his attack strings incredibly difficult. Last note, IADs are obviously anti-low but can also hover above some standing moves, even when the IAD is done as low as possible (Aulbath's far stand HK comes to mind).

Normal Moves

All damage values obtained when performed on Demitri. All hit/guard advantage values performed from point blank range, with additional situational values noted below.

Standing Normals

Standing Light Punch
Damage	4/8	1f	5f	8f	11f
Hit Advantage	+3
Guard Advantage	+2
Renda Bonus	H:+6 G:+5
Rapid Cancel	Yes
Special Cancel	Yes
Meter Gain	W:0/G:3/H:6
Start/Active/Recovery Frames		4	3	10
A decent s.LP. It has a about 3 uses. One being to anti-air your opponents IADs and overheads, which is very dependent on positioning otherwise it will fail. Another use is to guard break opponents in the corner after forcing them to chicken block. The main benefit of using this normal to anti-air is that while they are being air reset, you have plenty of time to instant air-dash and attempt a j.LK unblockable or a j2.HP overhead for a mix-up. The final use is to simply use it in pressure strings to attempt to catch jumpers. It will hit most crouching characters, while whiffing on crouching: Bulleta, Gallon, Lilith, Morrigan, and Q-Bee.

Standing Medium Punch
Damage	10/15	1f	6f	9f	??f
Hit Advantage	-1
Guard Advantage	-2
Renda Bonus	None
Rapid Cancel	No
Special Cancel	Yes
Meter Gain	W:3/G:9/H:15
Start/Active/Recovery Frames		5	3	19
This s.MP isn't the most obvious normal to use at times, but it still has plenty of uses at advanced levels. Its Zabel's most damaging special cancelable normal, though canceling it from max range into Evil Scream does not consistently combo. Sometimes I use it to swipe someone out of the air, as no other normals of his reach quite that height in so few frames. Using it as an anti-air on someone intending to jump in at you and attack will typically fail, so its more useful when someone does something like a badly spaced jump over you. This normal option selects from his command throw and normal throw attempts. If you mess up the throw timing or distance, it is much safer on block and whiff than s.HP. Using it in pressure strings to catch jumpers works sometimes. You should be careful though as this move will whiff on crouching Gallon and Q-bee.

Standing Hard Punch
Damage	2 hit:13/19 AA Hit:8/12	1f	7f	9f	14f	16f	19f	??f
Hit Advantage	-4
Guard Advantage	-5
Renda Bonus	None
Rapid Cancel	No
Special Cancel	No
Meter Gain	W:6 G:10+4 H:15+9
Start/Active/Recovery Frames		6	2	5	2	3	24
硬直差の範囲(1段目) H：-11～-10 G：-12～-11 硬直差の範囲(2段目) H：-4～0 G：-5～-1 ※2段目の攻撃判定は複数回発生するが1ヒットのみ

Standing Light Kick
Damage	4/7	1f	5f	8f
Hit Advantage	+4
Guard Advantage	+3
Renda Bonus	H:+7/G:+6
Rapid Cancel	Yes
Special Cancel	Yes
Meter Gain	W:0/G:3/H:6
Start/Active/Recovery Frames		4	3	9
This s.LK's only real use is to assist in combos to Death Voltage and Evil Scream. It has a bit more range than a c.LK, so in situations where [c.LK > c.LK] will whiff, [c.LK > s.LK] may hit. Naturally you'll end your block string on this move often when attempting to hit confirm into super. From a block position this move has very good frame advantage, especially with the renda bonus(+1 less than c.LK). Using this advantage to further your pressure is very important to Zabel's game-plan.

Standing Medium Kick
Damage	9/14	1f	3f	7f	10f	14f
Hit Advantage	-1
Guard Advantage	-2
Renda Bonus	None
Rapid Cancel	No
Special Cancel	Yes
Meter Gain	W:3/G:9/H:15
Start/Active/Recovery Frames		6		3	19
Not a lot of use from this s.MK, mostly used as a tool to special cancel from at a distance. While it does not have the same range as s.MP, it more consistently combos at a distance into Evil Scream. I personally like using it after hitting [instant air-dash j.HK >> s.MK xx Evil Scream].

Standing Hard Kick
Damage	2 hit:10/15 AA Hit:5/8	1f	6f	10f	16f	26f	34f
Hit Advantage	-6
Guard Advantage	-7
Renda Bonus	None
Rapid Cancel	No
Special Cancel	No
Meter Gain	W:6 G:10+4 H:15+9
Start/Active/Recovery Frames		9		6	10	21
硬直差の範囲(1段目) H：-12～-7 G：-13～-8 硬直差の範囲(2段目) H：-6～+3 G：-7～+2

Forward Standing Normals

Forward Light Punch
Damage	3/6	1f	6f	8f	10f	??f	18f
Hit Advantage	-3
Guard Advantage	-4
Renda Bonus	H:0 G:-1
Rapid Cancel	Yes
Special Cancel	Yes
Meter Gain	W:0/G:3/H:6
Start/Active/Recovery Frames		5	2	2	15
Long range poke, it's slightly faster than 6MP and has less recovery, but is more vulnerable to being crouched under by a majority of the cast, although against the few who can't it becomes much more reliable. Hurtbox extends a decent amount which can make it vulnerable to getting hit, though the low recovery makes the issue not too prevalent but is still something to keep in mind. 6LP can also link into a Death Voltage or Evil Scream at closer distances. Just like 6MP, it can catch jumpers as they leave the ground. Overall, a very solid move. • This move will only hit crouching: Bishamon, Victor, Anakaris, Jedah

Forward Medium Punch
Damage	8/13	1f	4f	7f	9f	12f	15f	??f
Hit Advantage	-4
Guard Advantage	-5
Renda Bonus	None
Rapid Cancel	No
Special Cancel	No
Meter Gain	W:3/G:9/H:15
Start/Active/Recovery Frames		6		2	3	20
Zabel's premier long range poke. The hitbox is perfectly positioned to hit almost every croucher in the game besides Q-bee, and to catch people trying to jump out of pressure. You'll find yourself using this a lot, but its important not to use it to much. You won't win any matches by just spamming this move constantly. Infact, it can be dangerous to use on whiff if your opponent times a jump over it into a punish. You use it just enough to make people scared to move too much while applying pressure. Converting hits from this on grounded opponents into something is not very practical as Zabel is at -4 even on hit. But if you happen to swipe your opponent out of their jump start up you get some decent advantage and a better opportunity to mount an offensive.

Forward Hard Punch
Damage	1st hit:4/7 2nd hit:5/9 3rd hit:5/10 All hits:12/22	1f	8f	10f	16f	18f
Hit Advantage	-4
Guard Advantage	-5
Renda Bonus	None
Rapid Cancel	No
Special Cancel	No
Meter Gain	W:6 G:9+3+3 H:12+6+6
Start/Active/Recovery Frames		7	2	6	2	2
20f			24f		34f	??f
4			25
硬直差の範囲(1段目) H：-16～-15 G：-17～-16 硬直差の範囲(2段目) H：-8～-7 G：-9～-8 硬直差の範囲(3段目) H：-4～-1 G：-5～-2

Forward Light Kick
Damage	3/6	1f	5f	7f	10f	13f
Hit Advantage	+1
Guard Advantage	0
Renda Bonus	H:+4/G:+3
Rapid Cancel	No
Special Cancel	No
Meter Gain	W:0/G:3/H:6
Start/Active/Recovery Frames		6		3	12
A decent long range poke. It has a few things going for it that Zabel's other distanced pokes do not have. For one it has a very fast recovery, unlike 6.MP which can be dangerous at times. Two, it can't be crouched under by most characters like s.LP. And third, it actually has decent frames on hit and block with +1 and even 0 respectively. The biggest downside is that it does rather pathetic damage on its own. Hitting this move from max distance will still allow you to combo into s.MP. Oddly enough, this move provides a renda bonus if you combo into it from a s.LK or c.LK. The 6.LK does not rapid cancelable into itself, so that is the only way to get the renda bonus.

Forward Medium Kick
Damage	8/13	1f	3f	9f	12f	15f	??f	22f
Hit Advantage	-6
Guard Advantage	-7
Renda Bonus	None
Rapid Cancel	No
Special Cancel	No
Meter Gain	W:3/G:9/H:15
Start/Active/Recovery Frames		8		3	3	21
What would be a decent long range poke simply gets outclassed by 6.MP's ability to catch jumpers, longer range, and slightly better recovery. Most of your use of this attack will come from chaining out of 6.MP for a bit more damage. One thing this move does have over 6.MP though is its ability to hit every crouching character in the game, including Q-Bee. Using this in the Q-bee match-up instead of 6.MP can be effective.

Forward Hard Kick
Damage	11/18	1f	6f	12f	15f	31f	39f
Hit Advantage	-2
Guard Advantage	-15
Renda Bonus	None
Rapid Cancel	No
Special Cancel	No
Meter Gain	W:6/G:15/H:24
Start/Active/Recovery Frames		14			16	23
An extremely capable far anti-air normal attack. High damage and large active frames make this a preferred anti-air attack, though its uses as anti-air are still very situational like all of his other anti-air normals. Secondly, this attack can also be used as as a chain combo ender against standing opponents if you are looking for a max damage combo that uses no meter. As an anti-air, if the opponent is jumping in I would avoid using this at a distance shorter than 3/4 to full screen depending on the match-up. The slow start-up and ability of an opponent to cleanly jump over this can make using it from too close very dangerous. For example, against a Lilith super-jumping in this move is very effective at a distance and will beat her cleanly. The more common application of using this as an anti-air is to catch people doing up-back jumps when you have them cornered. Sniping a few up-back jumps with this in a row will do decent damage. The frame advantage you can get using this as an anti air is extremely variable considering this move is active for a massive 16 frames. If you anti-air with the first frame of the move it will give you about +2/3~ frames on hit, and if you hit with the very last active frame of the move you can get a huge +17/18~ frames on hit. Recognizing when this move hits and properly exploiting it can give you a huge payoff. This move will actually hit crouching Bishamon and Victor surprisingly enough.

Crouching Normals

Crouching Light Punch
Damage	3/7	1f	5f	8f
Hit Advantage	+6
Guard Advantage	+5
Renda Bonus	H:+9 G:+8
Rapid Cancel	Yes
Special Cancel	Yes
Meter Gain	W:0/G:3/H:6
Start/Active/Recovery Frames		4	3	7

Crouching Medium Punch
Damage	9/14	1f	3f	6f	9f	19f
Hit Advantage	0
Guard Advantage	-1
Renda Bonus	None
Rapid Cancel	No
Special Cancel	Yes
Meter Gain	W:3/G:9/H:15
Start/Active/Recovery Frames		5		3	18

Crouching Hard Punch
Damage	12/19	1f	4f	10f	15f	??f	23f
Hit Advantage	-6
Guard Advantage	-7
Renda Bonus	None
Rapid Cancel	No
Special Cancel	No
Meter Gain	W:6/G:15/H:24
Start/Active/Recovery Frames		9		5	26
This c.HP's sole use is as an anti-air. You definitely should not think of it as his one stop answer to all anti-air situations, as it is very positionally dependent and it starts up somewhat slow at 10 frames. But, if you successful space and time this attack correctly, it will beat most jump in attacks clean. Using this as an anti air will give you about +10~ frames on the recovering opponent. This could be more if you hit later into c.HP's active frames. This isn't enough time to set up a completely solid high-low mix-up, there may be a slight gap, but its still practical due to positioning and the advantage you have. Just throwing out 6.MP on their recovery should generally be a perfect meatie though, so use this occasionally to make them scared of moving. The biggest downside to this move is if you accidentally miss your airdash and get a regular ground dash into c.HP. Dash c.HP on block is extremely unsafe and all you can do is hope your opponent is too slow in reacting with the punish.

Crouching Light Kick
Damage	3/6	1f	5f	8f
Hit Advantage	+5
Guard Advantage	+4
Renda Bonus	H:+8/G:+7
Rapid Cancel	Yes
Special Cancel	Yes
Meter Gain	W:0/G:3/H:6
Start/Active/Recovery Frames		4	3	8

Crouching Medium Kick
Damage	8/13	1f	4f	7f	11f	18f	23f
Hit Advantage	-3
Guard Advantage	-4
Renda Bonus	None
Rapid Cancel	No
Special Cancel	Yes
Meter Gain	W:3/G:9/H:15
Start/Active/Recovery Frames		6		4	20
硬直差の範囲 H：-3～0 G：-4～-1 This c.MK has a few uses, but you should not be using it much outside of chain combos and a normal to cancel into Evil Scream. This move actually moves Zabel forward across the ground a bit when he preforms it, making him just barely be able to combo into c.HK in a longer chain. This will combo from max range into Evil Scream. Standing at about air-dash range on your opponents wakeup and doing this raw into Evil Scream can sometimes be an effective gimmick. Don't use this move in a dash, you will be punished. Do not end your block strings with this move, the negative frames are simply too much. The fact he moves forward during this move means its easier to hit someone with the later frames of this, but that isn't very reliable in making it any safer.

Crouching Hard Kick
Damage	9/16	1f	8f	18f	25f
Hit Advantage	Knockdown
Guard Advantage	-7
Renda Bonus	None
Rapid Cancel	No
Special Cancel	No
Meter Gain	W:6/G:15/H:24
Start/Active/Recovery Frames		7	10	21
硬直差の範囲 H：転倒 G：-7～+2

Jumping Normals

Jumping Light Punch
Damage	5/9	1f	5f	11f
Special Cancel	Yes
Meter Gain	W:0/G:3/H:6
Start/Active/Recovery Frames		4	6	1 (+4 frames of Full Guard)
A normal which pretty much only has the use of starting air chains on chicken blockers in certain situations. Depending on positioning you won't even use this very much to start an air chain. There is a bit of potential for doing some gimmicks with this using the full guard, but its nothing that is at all practical. Read j.MP below for an explanation on full guard.

Jumping Medium Punch
Damage	10/16	1f	5f	7f	11f	16f
Special Cancel	Yes
Meter Gain	W:3/G:9/H:15
Start/Active/Recovery Frames		4	6		5	1 (+4 Frames of Full Guard)

Jumping Hard Punch
Damage	13/20	1f	7f	11f	18f
Special Cancel	No
Meter Gain	W:6/G:15/H:24
Start/Active/Recovery Frames		6	4	8

Jumping Light Kick
Damage	4/8	1f	4f	7f	10f
Special Cancel	Yes
Meter Gain	W:0/G:3/H:6
Start/Active/Recovery Frames		3	3	3	4

Jumping Medium Kick
Damage	9/15	1f	5f	7f	11f
Special Cancel	Yes
Meter Gain	W:3/G:9/H:15
Start/Active/Recovery Frames		4	6		4

Jumping Hard Kick
Damage	1hit:5/8 2hit:9/14 3hit:13/20	1f	7f	9f	11f
Special Cancel	No
Meter Gain	W:6 G:10+4+4 H:15+9+9
Start/Active/Recovery Frames		6	2	2	2
		13f	15f	17f	19f
		2	2	2	12
A decent normal to IAD with sometimes. It has both its strengths and faults. You'll find yourself getting hit out of it a bit more frequently than you'd expect. And it won't take long for you to realize that some characters can pretty effectively just crouch under it to avoid it more often than not. The fact it clearly will hit multiple times, and the block-stop applied to the move make it a bit easy to guard cancel. That said, it is a 3 hit normal that hits overhead, so on taller crouching characters it can be efficient in opening them up. If they crouch too soon. Against fireball characters where you have to dash a little higher to get over their fireballs, this can be an effective punish to combo all the way to the ground when j2.HP does not have enough hit-stun to do. As a bonus it makes for a super easy hit confirm of s.MP or s.MK into Evil Scream for big damage. Finally, if you catch an opponent in chicken guard with this, you have 2 different options based on positioning. Mid-screen, you can possibly get a s.LP or s.MP guard break after landing. In the corner, if it is timed right you can get a s.LP guard break reset, into an IAD > j.LK unblockable. It is very important to look out for both of these situations. Something to note is that if you air-dash super low, more often than not you will only get 2 hits out of this normal instead of 3. This can throw off your combo timing quite a bit, but at the same time it can confuse your opponent. It can be difficult to confirm how many hits you will do, but try to use this to your advantage instead of disadvantage.

Command Jumping Normals

Jumping Down Light Punch - j2.LP
Damage	4/7	1f	5f	11f
Special Cancel	Yes
Meter Gain	W:0/G:3/H:6
Start/Active/Recovery Frames		4	6	5
Potentially Zabel's most useless jumping normal. Not that it is terrible or anything. Any option this normal could fill, another one does it better. Its most similar to j.LK, but with the benefit of that being sometimes unblockable, there is no reason to use this over that.

Jumping Down Medium Punch - j2.MP
Damage	8/14	1f	3f	5f	7f	11f	16f
Special Cancel	Yes
Meter Gain	W:3/G:9/H:15
Start/Active/Recovery Frames		4		6		6

Jumping Down Hard Punch - j2.HP
Damage	11/18	1f	5f	7f	11f	15f
Special Cancel	No
Meter Gain	W:6/G:15/H:24
Start/Active/Recovery Frames		6		4	5

Jumping Kick Drill - j2.LK/MK/HK
Damage	7/14	1f	9f
Special Cancel	Yes*
Meter Gain	L=W:0/G:3/H:6 M=W:3/G:9/H:15 H=W:6/G:15/H:24
Start/Active/Recovery Frames		8	Until Landing
This move can only be special canceled out of an air-dash with the hard kick drill. When air dashing the move builds no meter on whiff with the MK and HK versions, but still gives meter on hit.

old data

Note: Every "stretched" move is chain cancellable. Every dashing move is a crouched one, and keep a bit (or a lot, depend of the length of the hitting frames) of the dash's momentum. Air dashed drills keep the dash's momentum too.

HP: Upward hitting move, GREAT anti air. Not much more to say about this move. Not safe. Better used when chained into stand HK, makes it less punishable.

HK: Interesting move. High kick, Zabel's foot turn into a saw. Zabel's hitbox go back a bit while doing it, which makes it a good anti air.

f.LP: Zabel stretches and poke. Good move for poking, better if cancelled into c.lk after either hit or guard. Can work better as an anti IAD than stand lp (highly situational) and is useful in combos. Good reach, special cancellable. Many chars can crouch under it.

f.HP: 3 hit stretching move. Somewhat useful in chains as it creates a delay in the chain. Kinda slow, Tech hit/guard cancel all day on it.

c.LP: Low jab, very good move (lots of + frames either on hit or guard). Move of choice when ground dashing. One of Zabel's fastest move. Main starter of his up close high/low game due to it's frame advantage. Special cancellable.

c.MP: Low hook, hits mid. Can be linked from cr.lp x 2. Special cancellable.

c.LK: Good move. Low kick, hits low, starter of 95% of his ground combos. Really low frame advantage on hit and guard. Still, a good (great?) move. Special cancellable.

c.HK: Sliding saw, hits low, goes under a lot of projectiles. Non cancellable.

j.MP: Great move, best used on air to air when your opponent is above you. Happens a lot since you will IAD pretty often. Can go for the unblockable when it hits that way. Big hitbox, can be use to whiff on purpose and mix up. Special cancellable. Full guard after it's recovery.

j.HP: Chest bones again. Good air to air move when opponent is above, but why use this when you can use j.MP. Usually used whiffed to build meter.

j.LK: Only one use for this move: unblockable. It's a good move but it would probably never be used if it weren't for the unblockable. The move's last hitting frames is unblockable, learn setups to land that one frame only on an opponent. Special cancellable.

j.MK: Good move, good reach. Zabel attacks with the bone form his shin. Good move overall. Special cancellable.

j.d.MP: Excellent move overall. Same attack but angled downward. Hits farther than j.MP, probably his best air to ground move. Can be used as an instant overhead against some chars. Special cancellable, Full guard after it's recovery. Move of choice for chicken guarding.

j.d.HP: Chest bones part 3. Arguably his best IAD move. Not cancellable. Not much else to say. Learn to instant IAD j.d.HP, it is required to play him decently. Random note: If you do not IAD as fast as possible, IAD j.d.hp will whiff against a crouching Q-Bee ; the timing to land a IAD j.d.MP against her is more lenient, but j.d.HP has more hitstun.

j.d.LK: Downward drill. Land the closest of the 3 drills. Can be used in IADs. Best use as an IAD against Q-Bee (if you cannot land iad j.d.MP/j.d.HP) or as a setup for the unblockable. Fast, can be chained into but not from, not cancellable. The drill of choice (if you miss your IAD you won't fly for half an hour, with the others you will).

j.d.MK: Downward drill, moderate distance. Wouldn't use it if I were you. See LK drill for info.

j.d.HK: Downward drill, goes the farthest. Shitty outside IADs. See LK drill for info.

Special note about "Full Guard": What is full guard? Well it's a bug on Zabel's jumping LP's and MP's that allows him to guard EVERYTHING while airborne if guardable after the recovery of these moves. That includes guarding moves that you are not supposed to guard while airborne (ie. every single grounded normal move) - https://twitter.com/shu180sx/status/926116428985405440

Pursuit Attack

Zabel hovers and stomps you multiple times (normal 3 times, EX 6 times). As all pursuits, can be whiffed to get closer and go straight into mixups, but Zabel's kinda slow... Don't do it often.

Throws

Punch Throw - (Close)6 or 4 MP/HP
Damage	No Mash:18/30 Mashed:27/45 CounterMash:12/20 Both Mash:15/25	1f
Tech Damage	4/7
Hit Advantage	+2
Tech Advantage	+2
Meter Gain	None
Active Frames		1
A mash throw that can be throw-teched entirely and does a stand reset on hit. If you are attempting to throw behind yourself the s.HP throw option-select is pretty good, but the setup from the throw afterwards is terrible. Even with the +2 frames from the throw, you don't have much of a potential follow up because of how far you are placed from the opponent, even in the corner. The main plus of the punch throw is against opponents that have no clue you can counter mash to make it do less damage. If you get full mash damage, this throw actually does massive damage. At that point it is Zabel's 3rd strongest attack when it comes to red damage, and his most damaging attack in terms of white damage. The huge damage from that is offset though on the measly damage this throw does if completely throw teched.

Kick Throw - (Close)6 or 4 MK/HK
Damage	18/27	1f
Tech Damage	9/13
Hit Advantage	Knockdown
Tech Advantage	+11
Meter Gain	None
Active Frames		1
A good throw. The option select from his normals isn't as good as it is for his punch throws, but the options he gets from the throw itself is much better than his punch throw. If you have a reason for wanting to do a back throw, this is your preferred option as the command throw only throws in the direction you are facing. In the corner, you have more than enough time to attempt a j.LK unblockable on knockdown. And on throw-tech Zabel gets +11 frames to attempt a mixup.

Air Throw - (Close)6 or 4 MP/HP
Damage	15/22	1f
Tech Damage	7/10
Hit Advantage	Knockdown
Tech Advantage	~
Meter Gain	None
Active Frames		1
Zabel's air throw is hardly a core part of his air game. Positionally, based on the height of his jump and location of the air throw, he will have difficulties grabbing a few characters as well. If you are trying to punish somebody, an IAD into an air reset with a normal, so you will know just how they recover is probably better than the knockdown into a roll they'd get from the air throw. Unteched, damage wise this throw is decent, it does a little more damage than his strongest air normal(j.HP). Even with the hard knockdown this gives, you still have enough time to set up your oki options as well. Teched, damage isn't very good. Zabel will chuck them across the screen and they will air reset. You actually have some pretty decent frame advantage off of this, but a throw midscreen puts them too far away to really exploit this. If they air tech you in the corner, you can get a solid air-dash mix-up on their recovery if you IAD at the soonest possible moment. The frame advantage from this isn't quite as much as an IAD into a normal attack reset.

Skull Punish - (Close)63214 MP/HP
Damage	MP/HP:20/28 ES:28/40	2f
Hit Advantage	Knockdown
Meter Gain	MP/HP: 12 ES: 0
Active Frames		1
2 frame untechable command throw that throws the opponent in the direction you're facing. This has a bit better range than his normal throws as well, so its generally his best throw option. Both option selects using s.MP and s.HP are good so use both, though I favor s.HP a bit more as it catches jumpers more often. Going for an ES Skull Punish can be extremely dangerous. It overlaps with the Evil Scream input of 6~4, and you'll get it by accident the majority of the time by either being too far from the opponent or doing it too soon out of block stun. This is a problem for two reasons. First off you lose the ability to do an option select with a normal move. And second, evil scream is -14 on block so you really do not want to do it in someones face raw. Because of those reasons you should generally be sticking with the regular version of Skull Punish rather than the ES version.

Special Moves

Death Hurricane - 214 LK/MK/HK/ES (Filler Information Below)
Damage	15/21	1f File:Zabel hurricane 1.png	5f File:Zabel hurricane 2.png	8f File:Zabel hurricane 3.png	11f File:Zabel hurricane 4.png	8f File:Zabel hurricane 5.png	11f File:Zabel hurricane 6.png
Chip Damage	Per Hit:0/2
Hit Advantage	Knockdown
Guard Advantage	L:-11 / M:-24 / H:-40 / ES:-49
Meter Gain	None
Start/Active/Recovery Frames		7		L:19 / M:29 / H:39 / ES:??		8 Airborne	8 Grounded
Spinning move. L version is safest as a quick but mediocre poke. Avoid using, especially the ES version. Ideally you'll only see this if your Death Voltage input is sloppy, since their inputs overlap. (L Version) Short range. (M Version) Medium range. (H Version) Long range. (ES Version) Hits 3 times.

Skull Sting (Ground) - 28 LK/MK/HK/ES (also in air)
Damage	3 hit:13/16 2 hit:10/12 1 hit:5/6 ES 1st Hit:4/5 ES All Other Hits: 3/4	1f	23~f	31/33/35/27f	43/45/46/46f
Chip Damage	Per Hit:0/1
Hit Advantage	+12~14
Guard Advantage	+11~13
Meter Gain	W:12 G:12+1xN H:12+3xN (ES:0)
Start/Active/Recovery Frames		L:29 / M:31 / H:33 / ES:27		12/12/11/~	9
Foot saw. Pretty much useless. (L Version) Short range. (M Version) Medium range. (H Version) Long range. (ES Version) Hits more.

Hell Gate - 41236 LK/MK/HK (Filler Information Below)
Meter Gain	12	1f File:Zabel hellgate 1.png	44f File:Zabel hellgate 2.png	58f File:Zabel hellgate 3.png	??f File:Zabel hellgate 4.png	8f File:Zabel hellgate 5.png
Start/Active/Recovery Frames		57		6
Teleport. Invincible from the 1st frame. Strength determines where you'll reappear, no matter which side you're on. No ES. (L Version) Left side. (M Version) Mid-screen. (H Version) Right side.

Death Phrase - 623K (GC):

Guard Cancel, that can only be used as a Guard Cancel, there is no normal special move version of this attack.

• (Any Version) Fast, knocks down.
• (ES Version) Adds a second untechable hit. This move is quite important for Zabel due to the opponent not being able to ground roll after the second hit, which can potentially set up his unblockable j.LK.

Ultimate Revenge - 623K (DFGC):

A Guard Cancel only available while in Dark Force mode. The hitbox on this one is worse than his regular Guard Cancel. Unblockable (is this true?). No ES.

EX Moves

Evil Scream - 6~4 PP
Damage	28/42	1f	8f	16f	20f	22f
Chip Damage	0/0
Hit Advantage	Knockdown
Guard Advantage	-14~
Meter Cost	1
Frame Count		15		4	2	2
		24f		39f	41f
Frame Count		22
Electric Stab. This is not a charge move, you simply tap the directions. Extremely fast, combos off anything cancelable and great reach. Whiffs against Q-Bee and Gallon when they are crouching.

Death Voltage (Ground) - 63214 KK
Damage	26/40	1f		5f	7f	37f	38f	55f
Chip Damage	0/4
Hit Advantage	Knockdown
Guard Advantage	-41
Meter Cost	1
Start/Active/Recovery Frames		6			31		17	8
			3f - 54f is airborne (52f total)
Move can also be done in air. Air version has 5f pre-attack frames, with 32 active frames. Electric spin. Huge damage, extremely fast, combos off anything cancelable. Air version travels downwards instead of upwards. Whiffs against a crouched Q-Bee, but not on crouching Gallon.

Death Voltage (Air) - air 63214 KK

Air version has 5f pre-attack frames, with 32 active frames.

Hell Dunk - 623 PP
Damage	31/41	~f	36f	52f
Hit Advantage	Knockdown
Total Whiff Frames	88
Meter Cost	1
Start/Active/Recovery Frames		51		1
Basketball. Auto-targets the opponent. Unblockable ground-catch (grabs standing/crouching opponents within the mouth area). Decent damage but telegraphed startup and very laggy/punishable whiff animation. Very risky, good damage but not recommended for frequent use (only if you predict a projectile and even then, IADing over it on reaction would be better).

Dark Force

Final Transformation: Ultimate Undead - Same strength P + K

• (Any Version) Gold Chainsaw mode. Zabel gets a new set of attacks, while losing his special moves and throws, and his dash becomes a hop rather than his normal crawl. While in dark force mode Zabel's normals do white (recoverable) damage on block. DF-Zabel has a unique Guard-Cancel animation

• Dark Force Combos

https://youtu.be/vfS9rrjxuu4?t=8m15s

Colors

Notable Players

Japan

Japanese Player Index: http://www21.atwiki.jp/vsplayer/pages/20.html

Name (English)	Name (Japanese)	Color	Location	Contact	Notes
Komemaru	こめまる	MP	Kanto Region	http://twitter.com/komemaru_z	#1 Zabel, from Tokyo
Sakai Hell Beat	サカイ	KK	Kanto Region		#2 Zabel Switched to Demitri in 2017
T2ya Tetsuya	—	LK	Tokyo, Japan	http://twitter.com/t2ya55	Legendary Zabel Retired T.O. for DCC-events
Nan	ナン	LK	Kansai Region	http://twitter.com/hanakozou	Best Bell in West Japan
Tkm	—	HK	Niigata, Japan	http://twitter.com/Tkmiyasama
Dekamelon	でかめろん デカメロン	MK	Kanto, Japan	http://twitter.com/Dekameronb
Yamakawa	やまかわ	MP	Kansai Region	https://twitter.com/yamakawa_zabel
Ogawa	オガワ	MP	Kanto Region
Aojiru	青汁	MK	Kanto Region	https://twitter.com/aojiru_zabel
Kuronu Chrono	黒野	HK	Kanto, Japan		Organizes the New Comer Tournaments at Mikado
Bega Vega	ベガ	HP	Kanto, Japan		https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuNnv95STflv3tDNZmeGAAA
Irifune	入船	MP	Kanto, Japan
CAA	—	MP	Kansai Region		Retired.

North America

Name (English)	Name (Japanese)	Color	Location	Contact	Notes
VickiViper	ヴィキーヴァイパー	MP	Virginia, USA	https://twitter.com/DarkForceVicki	Multi game specialist, and multi game champion. She is too damn fast, and singlehandedly holds brackets up because she signed up for everything.
Apollo	アパロー	KK	New York, USA	https://twitter.com/Apollo19999	Community Organizer with very good results. He's a baseball loving giant, and is an EX2 champion.
Conduit	導管	HP	New York, USA	Conduit#7839	Seasoned player with roots back in the original Fightcade. Will play offline one day.
Servo	サーボー	MK	Ohio, USA	https://twitter.com/Servotronic	VMP Stream Master who had great results. She solves all of the technical problems that come with streaming from CRTs, which is too many.
Rotanibor	ロタニボル	MK	California, USA	https://twitter.com/ROTANIBOR	Semi-Retired. Considered the Founder of the VSAV community in the US.

South America

Name (English)	Name (Japanese)	Color	Location	Contact	Notes
ZombieF	ゾンビ	PP	Brazil	https://mobile.twitter.com/zombief_	Extremely strong Zabel player that has gotten a lot of notoriety in the SA scene in 2022.