Hanzo

Introduction

Hanzo is a cool, mature woman and a skilled ninja. Appropriately, a lot of Hanzo's gameplay revolves around misdirection and mind games, as she only has one special move that actually hits in a normal combo. She has a lot of normals with decent range and staying power, and her combos tend to revolve around creating situations where she can get in with her command throw or with other attacks, such as from her dive-kicks, from a launcher, or from a teleport. Her learning curve is a little steeper when it comes to learning how to utilize her launcher combos, when and how to buffer her command throws, and how to use her dive-kicks, but putting in the time with her will pay off once those skills are mastered.

Move List

Normal Moves

LP

Elbow strike, slightly more damage than cl.LP.

cl.LP

Hanzo does a fast elbow strike. Blazingly fast, extremely short range. Hits crouchers as well. You can chain 3 of these on certain characters.

cr.LP

Fast, slightly longer reach than s.LP. Hits mid. You can link 2 of these together.

j.LP

Almost unseeable air to air. Good for punishing close range challenges in the air, otherwise, combo fodder. Chains naturally into j.HP.

LK

A high kick. Something of an odd anti air. Capable of shutting down jump outs from the corner.

cr.LK

A low kick to the shin. Fast, hard to see low.

j.LK

A knee poke in the air similar to Sagat's j.LK. Crosses up, but has a small hit box and not much hitstun/blockstun. A good option select for corner cross up when meaty j.3LK gets predictable.

HP

Hanzo does a double palm thrust. A counterpoke due to slow startup and deceptive range.

cr.HP

Go to anti-air. Great vertical hitbox but terrible horizontal range. Moves Hanzo forward slightly on use.

j.HP

Close range jump in poke. Average range. Crosses up in the corner, causes enough hitstun to follow up, unlike j.LK.

HK

A high kick with great range. Whiffs on crouchers. Moves Hanzo forward slightly on use. Capable of shutting down jump outs from the corner.

cl.HK

A short knee pop that hits mid; does not whiff on crouchers. Is cancelable into pretty much anything.

cr.HK

Hanzo's best poke in neutral in terms of range. Massive horizontal hitbox and cancellable into Hanzo's specials.

j.HK

Hanzo's best jumping normal. Fast startup and deceptively huge horizontal hitbox. Capable of being used as a jump in and air to air. Has great offensive use after a forward superjump as it can be thrown out really close to the ground.

Command Normals

3HK

Universal sweep. Has great range and moves Hanzo forward slightly. Largely punishable compared to cr.HK.

LP+HP (Overhead)

Universal overhead. Shorthop j.LK. Due to the short hitstun its not very useful offensively outside of ticking standing block. However, it is useful for keeping pressure on block as it moves her forward.

HP+HK (Unblockable)

Guard Crash. A slow st.HP. Start-up time makes it somewhat predictable, but since it has the same range as Hanzo's regular st.HP, it can hit farther out thank it looks like it can.

6LK

Hanzo steps forward and does a huge kick. Despite its range, it is a counterpoke (or blockstring ender) at best due to having big startup. Hits mid (does not whiff on crouchers). Has some combo usage.

6HK

Hanzo does a spin kick that moves her forward quite a bit. Very fast, useful for keeping the pressure up on block. Whiffs on crouchers. Can become predictable if used too often (the opponent can crouch or parry it).

j.3LK/3HK

Divekick. One of Hanzo's best moves. The LK version has small startup and narrow horizontal range. Fairly safe, thus can be used to bait unsafe pokes or bad parries in neutral. It also crosses up and has various uses on oki. The HK version has slightly longer startup and travels farther. Slightly more predictable in neutral, it sees more use as an approach option at fullscreen. It has oki and reset usage as well.

Special Moves

Saiunricchu Mozuotoshi [2]8P

A charge command grab; on hit, Hanzo jumps up with the opponent in hand and drops them with a knee press. Unblockable, but will not hit an enemy in hit or blockstun.

LP - starts up fairly quickly, but has a visible recovery on whiff.
HP - starts up in the same time as LP version, but has a slightly longer whiff recovery.
EX - starts instantly and requires no charge time. Longest whiff recovery. Also invincible to regular LP+LK throws and beats all of Chadha's Command Grabs including Giga Death Pressure.

Kikkajyunikou Jibashiri 41236P

Command dash that makes Hanzo look as if she's teleporting. The button used controls the distance and the properties. Can be shortcutted with 123P, which allows for buffering her command throw.

LP - short dash, short distance. Best used for keeping pressure going or baiting things at neutral.
HP - longer dash that goes to about half screen. Crosses up, can be used to get in or to set up things on oki.
EX - roughly the same range as the HP version, but has the startup properties of the LP. Very fast, fairly safe. Useful for oki setups and getting out of the corner as well as all of the above.

Gekkouippa Makigeri 214K

Hanzo's launcher, a sweeping upward kick with her front leg. This is her main combo tool and the only special she has that will hit an enemy in hitstun or blockstun.

LK - fast startup, enough to combo from any cancellable normal. It has use as an anti-air as it leads to untechable knockdown from the air (the range is somewhat specific).
HK - slower startup, but moves Hanzo forward and can be super jump cancelled, making it a staple in her combos.
EX - hits 4 times and has lightning fast start-up, giving it some use as a reversal.

Utsusemi 22P during the rise or peak of a super jump

Lightning fast fastfall. Gives her some reset options in the middle of her super jump combos as well as creating scary high low situations on knockdown. Specifically, in the corner it can be used to extend her combos.

Kumofumi 9 while near wall

Walljump. Corner escape tool. Can also be followed up with a divekick, making it less predictable.

Supers

Shinshinmumyou Togihotaru 236236K

A rushing kick combo that ends with a 214K. Can be super jump canceled at the end to throw in extra hits.

Tenraigin Kuchinawaichigo 2828P

A super grab. Much like [2]8P it won't hit an enemy in hitstun or blockstun, but it has a surprising amount of range, as Hanzo dashes forward before she grabs. Since there are no charging motions, it's easy to buffer the input for this move during another action, making for some scary action on the ground.

Combos

Target Combos

j.LP j.HP

st.HK 6LK

cr.HP 6LK

Basic

st.HP/cl.HK/cr.HK 214HK SJC j.LP j.HP
- The superjump cancel after 214HK is best done in the forward direction, and may be easier to input as 2369 for for that purpose. It's also fairly easy to charge up for a [2]8P to grab the opponent with on landing, especially if this is done in the corner. Another option at mid-screen is to buffer 2828P after hitting with j.LP j.HP.

6SJ j.HK cr.HK 214HK SJC j.LP j.HP
- Long range jump in combo. 214HK can be replaced with 214LK+HK for more damage.

Metered

j.HP st.LP st.LK 214LK+HK SJC j.LP j.HP [25%]
- Jump in starter. Works without j.HP. Works really well in the corner as j.HP becomes a meaty crossup. Costs half a bar.

j.3HK st.LP st.LP cr.LK 236236K SJC j.3HK (HP+HK) [50%]
- On the ground, the starter (st.LP st.LP 2LK) can be replaced with any hitconfirm into super. j.3HK sets Hanzo up for an unblockable reset in the corner. Can be seen here.