3.1. Unique Starting Moves! – or – What Do I Do Now?!

Things don’t always start in the most optimal way possible. Sometimes you just can’t get in the way you want to, and have to settle for something lesser than. What then? This is the section for those moves that you’d rather not use, but so you know what to do when you hit it. Also, we’ll be talking about strange things, like the US DH cancel, and wallbounces, and staggers.s.hk & s.hps.hk and s.hp are fantastic moves. But, let’s face it, we aren’t all execution junkies. If you’ve tried those combo extenders I listed, you’ll probably have seen that the Runstop loops and PH are more difficult than most of the other things Bella can do. That’s normal. For the most part, unless you are finishing your combos, you want to steer clear of s.hp and s.hk (unless you have a reset you want to do). Instead, midscreen or in the corner, c.hp will probably be the better choice. If you have an assist with you, however, something like Peacock's s.hp or Filia’s c.mk or Fortune’s s.mk, something that keeps your opponent still for a moment without knocking them away from you, you can do s.hp/s.hk , assist, lp lnl, and then continue with almost anything you want. With Peacock’s s.hp at least, you can even use a hp lnl, with stricter timing. However, with no assist, these are not combo friendly buttons like most other things are. If you are unable to Runstop or PH cancel consistently, stay away.MGRMGR can be a powerful move, or it can be an even more powerful move. Easily Cerebella’s most damaging command grab. From the ground bounce, you have a few options. Combo wise, about the most easy damage you can do is MGR, c.lk, c.mp, c.hp, j.mk, j.hp, 3.8k. Also, against Filia and Double, MGR, c.lp/lk , c.mk, j.mp, j.hk works. Which is weird, since these two share little else in terms of character-specific combos. If you dash after the MGR, you can combo c.lk, c.mk, against every character except Painwheel. For me, double-tapping forward and then attacking is impossible, but if I set one of the left buttons on my controller to pp (dash), it becomes ridiculously easier. Simply hold down, hit dash, then hit c.lk, c.mk.DDropDDrop is a pretty simple grab. There are only two ways to continue a combo after DDrop: DD, or s+f.hp. If you catch your opponent, do s+f.hp. It only does 600 damage less than DD, and you save yourself the meter. The only reason to use meter is if you NEED that extra damage, or if they were thrown into the corner, or there is some extra variable (like DHCs or Lenny bomb) that you’d rather/rather not deal with. If they were thrown into the corner, there is never a reason not to super unless you have no meter. The combo can easily be continued with a simple crouching light (whichever one you don’t need later) in the corner. DDrop is amazing when your back is to the corner. It is very difficult, but a mid screen DDrop, DD can be followed up with a dash, c.lk, c.mp, c.hp.Deflector StaggerDeflector… Chances are you’ll be pretty far away from the opponent, so a dash forward s+f.hp may be best. If you are a little closer and can actually make it to the c.lk range in time, your damage won’t be anywhere near respectable, but make sure to save your best, least seen reset for this moment. A small unexpected movement can lead into a full combo, and a dead character.s.mp & PH Staggers.mp and PH both stagger, but are very different. S.mp has enough stagger to let you do basically whatever you want, but PH has a short amount of time where you aren’t able to move. And since stagger can be shaken out of by wiggling your stick (hehe), the options from this move are more limited than s.mp. From a s.mp stagger, you can throw out MGR, you can do a jumping attack, you can set up a reset, you can basically do whatever. From a PH, you still have freedoms, any standing normal and command normal will connect, but you can’t, for example, do MGR if they shake out of it. You can, however, do US, the super grab, for some decent damage. Whatever you do, make it count.Normal GrabUgh. Normal grab. Every other grab in the game is better than this one. Oh well, for whatever reason, you caught someone in a grab. What now? Well, in the air with normal air grab, you can do j+d.mp, super, which works at full height now. Which is kinda cool. You can also do a falling j.lp, and continue the combo afterwards (the superior option). Ground normal grab won’t net you ♥♥♥♥ unless you are in the corner. In the corner, the game changes a little bit. First off, you can do DD, and unlike midscreen, you will net the full super rather than a single hit. Secondly, you can land a Deflector, which can solo be canceled into super, but on a team the right assist can turn this punkass grab into something surprisingly damaging.Devil HornsDevil Horns can be interesting. You’ll probably be using it when people are air dashing or flying over your head, but there are a few ways it can be done against grounded opponents. The main way is with c.mk. I’d only suggest this move if you really need to switch directions, or if you have a reset in mind. You can continue your combo with any light, or one of the mediums. Other than that, there are plenty of better damage options and reset options available. To be fair though, she has no better taunt options.Ultimate Showstopper, Devil HornsIn the patch Cerebella was given the ability to cancel her Super grab into DH. This is really interesting, but since it loses about 60% of its damage by doing this, you’ll want to do two things before you start messing around with it. 1) wait until late in your combo to do it, after a s.mp or a PH (If you don’t want to lose all that damage), and 2) make sure you have a reset in mind. This isn’t worth doing without a reset. Experiment a bit on your own, find what works. You can also dash after the DH, allowing you to do any light closer to your opponent. The timing’s a little tight, but it’s not runstop tight, or even PH tight.KanchouKanchou… Bleeh! This move is so funny when it lands. Butt Poke! Anyway, this move is interesting, in that your options can drastically change depending on how close you are to one wall or the other. Kinda like DDrop. Midscreen, an option that works is simply c.mp. It can catch everyone before they hit the ground. If you need to, you can dash a little after they wallbounce to give your c.mp a little more range for the heavier characters. If you are close enough to the wall, you can do a Devil Horns, which is recommended 100% of the time for cool factor. It also can be combed after, easier than c.mk, Devil Horns, which is really nice. Also, it’ll end your combo most likely, but you can combo into a mp lock n load (hp will work if you have an OTG left) and then a super (which will sometimes miss, so practice it first).Diamond DynamoSometimes you have to use this move midscreen, whether to punish someone's something or as a dhc, or because you were trying to kill someone. It happens. Well, now what? We already know this move is best used in the corner. Does it HAVE any uses afterwards? Like I explained earlier, you can dash, c.lk, c.mp, c.hp, for a full combo, but that's difficult. And it doesn't even work on everyone (I don't think, but it's so hard to pull off I don't know if it not working is me or the opponent). So, something else you can do, is a c.hk, a s+f.hp, or a Cerecopter (in increasing level of difficulty). The following are characters this won't work against; c.hk (Cerebella, Double), s+f.hp (Parasoul, Cerebella, Double), Cerecopter (Parasoul, Cerebella, Double).Diamonds Are Forever (level 3)DAF is almost exactly like Kanchou, but different. The same wallbounce, but you have more time to do something afterwards since you recover faster. Also, with the increase in damage to assists, if you catch an assist with this move, you are almost guaranteed to kill it at 1x damage with the right setup, never mind Solo damage.