_________________________

XV2 Merged Zamasu Guide

A complete overview.

_________________________

Stamina Break Combos:

Due to how Merged Zamasu (Mamasu) and his combo strings work, he has only two paths for confirming stamina breaks

Dashing LL

Any conversion of the heavy string into the double kicks. (f.i. HLLL)

The second kick will always confirm into either light or heavy stamina breaks.

Very few combo strings make direct contact with the opponent (something that is advantageous for Mamasu, as will be covered shortly) and in fact, the only other one that does (5L) boasts minimal hitstun.

Hard Knockdown:

5L3H while grounded. While Merged Zamasu has multiple conversions into the knockdown from later in the string, most everything else will knock the opponent too far up in the air for the ensuing slam to be a hard knockdown.

The preferrable follow-ups are: Divine Wrath (proper confirm from the HKD) or Holy Wrath (confirms up to Stage 2, then boasting the highest damage from all possible non-ult follow-ups.)

Neutral Game:

Mamasu boasts a relatively weak neutral game. You cannot Ki Blast Cancel (KBC) his Dashing L, thus being forced to proceed into Dashing LL and Dashing LH to KBC on whiff. His neutral is however strengthned by the projectile nature of his heavy attacks, in particular his charged heavy (which retains the conventional ability to guard break) and his jump attack, the latter two boasting multiple hits.

Arguably Lightning of Absolution also strengthens his neutral game with its range being equal to the lock-on range. But the ease in perfect blocking the super and how telegraphed it is makes it unsafe in neutral.

Simply put, Merged Zamasu is a hard character to play "cleanly", his biggest downside being how many openings can be exploited in him at any given moment.

Super and Ultimate Attacks:

Lightning of Absolution (LoA) is a "global" move that will strike the opponent even from behind cover anywhere within Mamasu's lock-on distance. (If locked off, the lightnings will appear a small distance in front of Mamasu, you cannot lock-on during activation.). LoA will hit two times from a distance and three times in close quarters. (The close-range exclusive lightning dealing a relatively smaller amount of damage.). At a hefty cost of 2 ki and a mediocre damage of 2250, it is Mamasu's most forviging combo extender.

It can be used in neutral from mid-close range as the opponent attempts to engage for favorable trades, however doing so requires decent reads. (Great potential utility, don't squander this.)

Blades of Judgement (BoJ) is at first glance a pretty underwhelming move, long start-up, average projectile speed, spread in the projectiles and a knock-up against standing opponents with each single blade dealing 281 damage. But its true utility lies in the manner it works when the opponent lies in juggle state. Out of a command knockback it a little over 2k damage reliably. It is easily comboed into Mamasu's dashing LLL and the equivalent HLLLL and its similar conversions, showcasing Mamasu's biggest strength: Unvanishable damage.

Holy Wrath is the most situational of Mamasu's super attacks. It is a move that has three stages of charge, each increasing its hitbox and damage by a decent amount. You can move at a restricted pace while charging the move, seldom enough to dodge substantially. It is best paired with the HKD or during stamina breaks.

Divinity Unleashed, while arguably one of the best charging moves in the game, is a dead slot on a character that's already dificult to play cleanly. While among the safest charging moves and after charging a full ki bar granting a ki generation buff, it bears little to no actual combat utility.

Divine Wrath: One of the most damaging ki ultimates pre-DLC 7 patch at 11k damage (Mamasu at level 99) for measly 3 bars of ki, this thing is essentially a better Supernova Cooler - sharing many of the same downsides. It's massive hitbox and fast casting animation is offset by its poor tracking, poor priority (disappearing upon colliding with certain pieces of environment and other ki blast ultimates) and the fact that you're locked into the "firing" position until the ball eventually detonates making it extremely dangerous on whiff.

Combos:

Merged Zamasu's Bread and Butter (BnB) is HL4H (HLHHHH) can be achieved in multiple conversions, like Dash LHLHHHH and 5L3H as well as standing 1-4LHLHHHH. It's his most powerful string ranging from 3.4k to 4.2k damage. Is unvanishable in almost all of its entirety. The standard versions (HL4H) can be looped with a ki blast stun near walls (HL4H -> ki blast -> HL4H).

The first two inputs are vanishable (most often the second input, where the pink blades will strike.) in close range. However the third and fourth (as well as even the second) inputs can hit from behind and bear severe amounts of hitstun. Making it so you can ki blast cancel imediately after the 4th input and restart with his ranged H into a new repetition of HL4H (this time fully unvanishable due to distance).

The 5th input onwards will *not* hit from behind and will result in a dropped combo. And alternative to KBCing and restarting the string would be using LoA off of the hitstun from the backhit of the 4th input.

The BnB string can be followed up by BoJ at short distances, however at longer distances LoA is the superior option due to sheer reliability. Especially if going for multiple repetitions of the string.

Evasives that do not move the opponent and Limit Bursts will be attacked through if activated during the 6th Input (the last Heavy), making character unfamiliarity a big hurdle for the opponent.

Dashing 3L and its counterpart H4L are an integral part of Mamasu's gameplan as his BnB is his best vanish trap (string that forces vanishes out of the opponent for fearing damage), meaning they're not as likely to try and vanish the fewer hits from these strings, whose damage can be boosted dramatically due to their easy confirms into BoJ and LoA (but not Holy Wrath). 1-4L2H is also a possible conversion into this string end.

H4L will often prompt vanishes on its third light attack due to fear of a stamina break, creating good opportunity for Mamasu's extremely fast backhit.

Mamasu doesn't majorly benefit from stamina breaking his opponents unless he can secure the kill during the break.

Ki-efficient routes during a stamina break is to, after a light stamina break, use Stage 1 Holy Wrath (disclaimer: Will miss on very short characters) followed by Stage 2 Holy Wrath twice. Alternatively, heavy stamina break into Divine Wrath.

Both routes can be followed by Lightning of Absolution for extra damage if the opponent hasn't recovered their stamina by then. (Unadvisable using Divine Wrath after Holy Wrath due to the possibility of the ball disappearing in contact with the ground.)

The alternating (HLHLH) string doesn't see much use for Mamasu due to not generating as much advantage as his BnB while having a similar effective range, however the alternating can be used in a range where the BnB will start dropping, and can see limited usage there. Only possible follow-up is Lightning of Absolution.

Mamasu's jumping attack combos into Lightning of Absolution at long ranges and is extendable into regular combos in close quarters. The fact he can move rapidly while conjuring the ki blast barrage makes it a great addition to his neutral - especially at the start of matches.

Super Soul:

"I shall show you my great godly might!" allows Mamasu to make full use of his supers and ults as soon as the battle starts, allowing Mamasu to do all follow-ups for his strings (even the ult at the end of his unvanishable) while still building ki from the very beginning. The buff wears off rapidly (15 seconds into the match.) but is able to generate good advantage.

His charged ki blast is the Power Type, which Mamasu doesn't majorly benefit from aside from neutralizing zoning hazards (Super Ghost Kamikaze or Genocide Shell) as his only safe super to boast that kind of priority is LoA.

His Limit Burst is +Damage, Auto Ki Generation, -Stamina Regeneration. It favors Mamasu's capabilities of breakless damage, though vulnerabilizes him as his punishable openings are his biggest flaw. His damage when bursted is not to be underestimated.

Matchups & General Overview:

Merged Zamasu is a very strong character who gets increasingly powerful the better you execute him, he can punish characters with long string recovery such as Gotenks and Towa relatively efficiently but struggles with high priority characters, especially those who can dish out damage rapidly without much punish window such as Vegeta.

He's a simple character in terms of strategy but a hard character in terms of execution with how much recovery his strings and supers have. Winning neutral game can be especially hard. His ranged pressure is one of the best in the game and his potential for mixups make him a dangerous adversary.