User:NomadNoah/umvc3team

Intro

Hello. Welcome to my work-in-progress Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 team building guide. A lot of the game's best resources are confined to Google Docs, so I want to do what I can to collate these resources and make them somewhat more permanent.

Team Composition

Teams in Marvel are composed of three characters, with one active at a time, backed up by two assists. The ordering of your characters will radically change how your team plays, and its efficacy, since characters are typically slotted into teams based on their performance in a given role.

Keep in mind that even though every character can be described in specific team-building terms, synergy and shell strength matter way more than how well your team adheres to a point-middle-anchor structure.

With all that said, the traditional three team positions are as follows:

Point

Point characters are placed first on a team, and are generally picked for the following reasons:

• Work best when backed by assists, to cover a weakness, reinforce a strength, or allow for specific conversions
• Can operate well independently of meter, and are inexpensive to succeed with resource-wise
• Tend to be meter positive, or meter neutral with excellent conversion and killing ability
• Can survive and succeed in round start scrambles

Middle / Assist

Middle characters are placed second on a team, and are generally picked for the following reasons:

• Have an excellent assist to support the point character or the team on the whole
• Possess highly useful supers for neutral, combos, and/or DHCs from your point character and generally spend meter well
• Have strong TAC potential to build extra meter and damage
• Are functional as a 'backup' character if you have a fragile or highly valuable anchor that people will prioritize killing

Anchor

Anchor characters are placed third on a team, and are generally picked for the following reasons:

• Can operate highly independently of assists, both for neutral and combos
• Have strong uses for meter, especially in the form of damage dumps to kill or chip out
• Are extremely powerful when paired with X Factor 3
• Have high comeback potential for any reason (including the above)

Shells and Compositions

Shells

In Marvel, a 'shell' refers to a specific pairing of two characters that provide a strong backbone for team-building, owing to uniquely strong synergies that are considered dominant in the meta. Strong full teams built on these notable shells will also be discussed.

Zero/Vergil & Zero May Cry

• Zero w/ any assist - Point
• Vergil w/ Rapid Slash - Anchor

Possibly the most holistically strong shell (and prefab team with Dante added in). Here's how it works:

Zero is an incredibly dominant point character with touch ofdeath potential and devilish incoming mixups; he is well-equipped to survive the round start and turn even scrambly, stray hits into dead characters and meter. At the same time, Vergil is a god-tier anchor who benefits immensely from Zero's massive meter building ability, and has unrivaled comeback potential with X Factor 3.

Adding Dante (with Jam Session) to this shell forms the infamous 'Zero May Cry' composition. Dante's Jam Session assist elevates Zero's incoming presence from 'devilish' to 'godlike,' and raises the likelihood of Zero turning one dead character into an entire dead team on incoming. Furthermore, Dante has phenomenal synergy with Vergil on his own, ensuring the team is still strong even if Zero dies immediately.

MorriDoom

• Dr. Doom w/ Hidden Missiles - Any position
• Morrigan w/ Dark Harmonizer - Any position

Morridoom has become sort of the 'villain' shell of Marvel, notable for its high execution, death-by-a-thousand-cuts neutral game, and to some, its extreme suck to watch.

Morrigan and Doom are both highly flexible characters that can be reasonably placed anywhere, with each ordering having some tradeoffs. Morrigan and Doom are often placed second and third (in any order), with a third 'battery' character on point, intended to survive the round start onslaught and provide MorriDoom with ample space and meter to run away with the game. Keeping Doom alive is really central to this team's function, as his metered potential and Hidden Missiles assist elevate the team to new heights.

Doom/Phoenix

• Dr. Doom w/ Hidden Missiles - Middle
• Phoenix w/ TK Shot M or TK Overdrive - Anchor

I can't control it!

This shell is built around Phoenix as a sort of 'MVP Anchor' in that the entire team is designed to prepare her for Dark Phoenix activation, which turns her into a short-lived but nearly unrivaled character - this is a 'checkmate' team composition, where you want Dark Phoenix activation to be the death knell for the enemy team.

Both point and middle characters are intended to simultaneously protect and build meter for Phoenix, and as such, it may even be necessary to play without Phoenix's assist to keep her safe; your middle character is often expected to be highly autonomous, which Doom excels at as one of the most independent characters in the game.

It is important to note that picking this shell is an immediate tell as to what your game plan is; savvy opponents will be very insistent about snapping in Phoenix and killing her before she can build five bars.

Doom/Sent & Mag/Sent

• Dr. Doom w/ Hidden Missiles - Point or Middle
• Sentinel w/ Sentinel Force (Charge) - Anchor

or

• Magneto w/ Electromagnetic Disruptor - Point
• Sentinel w/ Sentinel Force (Charge) - Anchor

Doom/Sent and Mag/Sent are both massively powerful shells that take full advantage of the offensive and neutral control provided by Doom/Mag's mobility, paired with Sentinel's superb Sentinel Force assist. Put succinctly, this shell sets you up to lack nothing; any holes can be shored up by your third character pick, and this shell is strong enough to offer a stable platform to succeed with. In that regard, it is a fundamental(-ish) team.

Compositions

Some teams rely on all three members to accomplish a very specific game plan, and often do not abide by typical conceptions of team structure.

For the sake of delineation, I will call these 'compositions,' rather than 'shells;' a shell is a strong pair with a slot, whereas a composition is an entirely prefabricated team.

Nova/Spencer/Strange

• Nova w/ Centurion Rush - Point
• Dr. Strange w/ Bolts of Balthakk - Damage engine
• Spencer w/ Wire Grapple (Slant Shot) - 'Anchor'

This team doesn't really abide by typical conceptions of team structure because it is largely reliant on all three members being alive, and being able to cleanly 'cycle' the team each time you kill a character; every kill should result in Nova being out front again. This is entirely possible as well, as this team is designed to build huge amounts of meter with Strange, who can reliably touch of death all but the healthiest of characters and remain resource-positive.

Your goal is to play neutral with Nova, and then hard tag Strange in to kill characters after you touch them using Spencer's restand and Nova's crumple. Strange is ill-equipped to fight many characters in neutral, and as such the rest of the team serves to protect him so he can deal all of your damage; if things go south, expect to be playing solo Spencer more often than not. Thus is the main drawback of this team; it is very structurally unsound, as any character going down destroys the entire synergy this team is built around. Its constituent characters are still capable, but not as ludicrously threatening as they are together.

Character Overviews

Capcom

Hsien Ko

Click here for Hsien Ko's page

Team Value
Hsien Ko offers potent anti-zoning and a strong assist when paired with her Gold Armor install, but struggles mightily with making ends meet; her mobility, low damage, and awkward routing make it difficult for her to be a threat without serious support from other members of the team. Generally she suffers from a lack of inertia; she can stop zoning but not beat it, and she can control her immediate space but has a terribly hard time managing characters that can run from her (which is not hard).

What They Bring

• Senpu Bu, which becomes one of the most belligerent assists in the game in her Gold Armor install
• Tenrai Ha, which functions as a massive, self-linkable solo damage dump
• Generally potent anti-zoning with her Gong move series

What They Want

• Characters that can reliably ferry her into Gold Armor install
• Teams that can help alleviate her movement and damage shortcomings (see: stronger characters)
• Teams that can deal with runaway characters, through assists or actual character strength

Position
Hsien Ko can be played in any position, though most teams with her are built around establishing Gold Armor Senpu Bu early and leveraging it.

Assists
Senpu Bu is her most picked assist, owing to its strength when paired with her Gold Armor install, since the install timer freezes if Hsien Ko isn't on point.

Notable Synergies

Marvel

Nova

Click here for Nova's page

Team Value
Nova offers a high-mobility kit that is well suited to both rushdown and keepaway, thanks to his excellent selection of air options. Furthermore, he hits hard and offers consistent, rewarding conversions from normal starters, stray hits, grounded throws, and air throws alike owing to his lengthy knockdowns, OTG tools, and potential to set up crumples.

What They Bring

• High conversion potential and solo OTGs
• The scariest suite of throws in the game
• 214H, a move that crumples on grounded hit
  • Teams oriented around 214H and Spencer's restand assist can unlock touches of death

What They Want

Air throw into character select

• Assists that provide horizontal and vertical coverage, especially against projectiles
• Assists that provide lockdown to enable stronger and more ambitious mixups
• Characters with higher damage output and minimum scaling to DHC/hard tag to

Position
Nova is typically played as a point character owing to his reliance on assists for neutral presence and hard tags for damage.

Assists
Centurion Rush is most common, owing to its forced ground bounce vs. airborne opponents, as well as its status as an overhead.

Nova Strike and Gravimetric Pulse are both comparatively rare, due to their niche status and, in the case of Nova Strike, use of a (non-forced) wallbounce.

Notable Synergies

• Spencer - Nova/Spencer is an incredibly strong shell, since it supports restand + 214H setups for raw tags
  • Spencer & Strange - Team Nemo. Offers immense damage output and meter build with a hard tag to Strange
  • Spencer & Doom - Slightly less damage-focused than Dr. Strange but far more well-rounded, offering Doom's independence and neutral strength instead
• Strider - Vajra's strong tracking and range helps shore up Nova's weakness against airborne and highly mobile characters, while also giving Nova plenty of OTG opportunities

Credit

Heavily inspired by the phenomenal Skullgirls team building guide.

Terminology directly borrowed from, or heavily based upon, the UMvC3 glossary.

The (S)alt+Tab team building doc.

Viscant's team tier list, mirrored here by yours truly.