Yo dawg we heard you like mix-ups, so we put an attack on your attack so you can attack while you attack.With many players transitioning from Super Street Fighter 4 to Marvel vs Capcom 3, it seems one of the biggest hang ups many have is the use of assists. Of course, assists aren't at all a part of Street Fighter 4 and many other fighting games so it's understandable that it can take some time to wrap your mind around how assist usage works.

Assists tie into many other aspects of the game such as team formation and other things, but the point of this series of articles is to give a basic foundation on how to choose assists, how to protect them and a few other topics surrounding this subject.

In the following weeks we'll dive a little deeper into the subject, talking about different assists, how to protect them among other things, but for today we're just going to touch on the basics to get us started.

How to Think of Assists

Proper assist usage will give some characters abilities that aren't inherently part of their design.Probably the single best way assists were ever described to me was when I was first picking up Marvel vs Capcom 2. At that time I had a hard time even remembering to call assists in the first place, until one of the players told me to think of it as "having a fireball or uppercut tied to one button." This is a pretty simple way to describe things, but it really helped me grasp the overall concept of assists. It really is like having a few extra special moves for your on screen character available at the push of a button.

Now, as you know, not all assists are "fireball or uppercuts", but the overall concept still applies. If you have an anti-air assist, use it to stop the other player from advancing from above. If you have a beam or projectile assist, use it to clear the way and potentially set up cross-ups and mix-ups.

Much of this ties into your overall team formation, which again we'll get into at a later date, but try to choose assists that will benefit at least one of the characters, and ideally two characters on the team. Do you play a character like Chris who can have a difficult time controlling vertical space and needs an "uppercut"? Try out Dante's Jam Session which is a great anti-air assist. Do you play a character like Spider-Man who needs an OTG attack to dish out more high damage combos? Throw Deadpool or Wesker on the team, both who have OTG assists, to help Peter Parker put the hurt on the other guy.

When to Call an Assist

Call assists from a safe distance and give them a bit of cover whenever possible.Just like Uppercuts and Fireballs, in Marvel vs Capcom 3 you cant simply toss out an assist anytime you want. You have to be aware of what type of an assist it is and how much it will benefit you from calling it. Just be sure to really understand the properties of each assist on your team before calling them out recklessly.

For instance, in a lot of cases it's not the best idea to call an assist with slow start up and no invinciblity while Sentinel is coming at you with a frying pan. He can clock both of your characters and end up killing your entire squad if you're not careful. It's the same deal with throwing a fireball in Street Fighter from a distance where the opponent can easily jump over it and land an attack.

On the other hand, from a safe distance, outside of the opponents furthest reaching attacks you can call a beam or projectile assist to give them something to deal with all while staying out of danger. You can even call these same assists from full screen while moving forward to keep them hidden, but still fill the screen with an attack.

Use assists to keep your offensive pressure going.Many assists are crucial for clearing the way to start an offense as well. Slow moving projectiles and beams are great to use outside of the opponents attack range, then moving in with a wave dash or tri-jump as they provide you some cover.

Other assists work well on the defensive -- such as Dr. Doom's Hidden Missiles -- as you can call them while running away, stopping the opponent from advancing while you look for your next opening.

Some assists are multi-purposes as they can work well on both on offense or defense. Haggar's Double Lariat is a good example of this as you can use it to keep the opponent off of you, or call him while pressuring them in the corner.

So when can you actually call an assist? This may sound pretty obvious, but there are times when the game will allow you to call and assist and when you won't be able to no matter how hard you are mashing.

You can call an assist:

Standing

Normal Jumping

Flight

During Normal Attacks, both on block and hit.

You can't call an assist:

Super Jumping

Performing a Special Move

Blocking or while being hit

Also keep in mind there is a cool down period between each time you can call an assist. That being said, you can alternate between assists to keep the screen filled with attacks much more often rather than calling the same assist over and over again.

WHAT'S NEXT?

Next time we're going to dig a little deeper, getting into specific assists and their uses. We'll also include some demonstrations on how each one works to hopefully give you some starting points on forming a team.

In the meantime, how do you think of assists when playing MVC3? Do you feel you have a good understanding of when to call an assist or feel it's something you could improve on? Hit us up in the comments and we'll see what we can do to help!