Capcom vs SNK 2/Athena

From SuperCombo Wiki

Introduction

CVS2 Athena Data.png

Story

Athena Asamiya is a Japanese teenage idol who is famous worldwide for her beautiful singing voice. She's also the reincarnation of another older Athena, who was also a rambunctious teenager, and was also a goddess from the Heavenly Realm. As her reincarnation, the modern day Athena shows incredible magical ability, especially weilding Psychokinesis. She's a trained martial artist as well, training under a highly respected Chinese martial art master named Chin Gentsai. Together with Chin, her fanboy and psychokinetic partner Sie Kensou, and another young boy who shows great power named Bao, Athena learns more about her powers, while maintaining her life as a famous musician.

Gameplay

Athena is a neutral focused character mainly, with a few surprisingly good mixup tools. Sadly, Athena tends to fall in with the low tiers of CvS2. Her low health, bad defense, and extremely low damage output makes it so she's constantly fighting an uphill battle. Still, Athena does have a single saving grace: her neutral is very good overall. Her buttons are stellar, especially her infamous 2HP which is a lightning fast poke with great range and a tendency to stuff any other midrange button the opponent presses. Her fireball can be quite useful as well, especially when roll cancelled. Her mobility isn't exactly a joke either, sporting a useful divekick and a teleport that can sideswap. She also possesses a somewhat scary mixup game, between her command grab which she can juggle off of, a slow and big fireball to end blockstrings in, and her aforementioned teleports to run a strike/throw mixup on opponents too scared to interrupt her.

While these sound like great pros, Athena just doesn't get the proper reward for the risk she takes. Her combo potential is virtually nonexistent, with her only solid combo ender special being her 623P which whiffs after most normal cancels. This leaves her either ending her pressure or combo at just a normal hit, or cancelling into a special and risking her short health bar for another low damage mixup. Her defense isn't that great either, since her 623P isn't a true reversal, leading it to get stuffed a majority of the time. Likely one of her biggest weaknesses lies in her supers, which are incredibly unfriendly to combos, leading them to be almost exclusively utility. Luckily, they do make for some very solid utilities.

Athena is a low-tier hero with some incredible normals, scary knowledge check mixups, and decent ability to run away.

Groove Selection

Best - C/S/A: C-Athena is likely her best Groove overall. While she gets very little from level 2 cancels because of her weak combo potential, her supers make for great utilities, especially Shining Crystal Bit. It's a 0 frame startup invincible reversal/anti-air that she can cancel out of with a PPP input. Even the level 1 version has full startup invuln and instant startup, making it very useful to have it often. Airblock makes her retreat safer, and Alpha Counters give her a very appreciated escape from pressure. S-Athena is a surprisingly great fit for her, as her lack of reliance on supers for damage means she doesn't actively need them to be a threat. Charging is a risk, but her scary neutral ability makes it harder for the opponent to react and punish. Infinite level 1 supers means she can constantly anti-air and reversal, making approaching her much more difficult overall. A-Athena loses her utility supers in exchange for much needed damage. Her Custom Combo is surprisingly good, though difficult, and makes it so that she can actually punish things more effectively. All of these Grooves actively sacrifice something in exchange for the others, so Athena has no one true fitting Groove, so play with these and see which you like.

Useful - N: N-Athena is arguably not that good, but being able to run more consistent mixups is never a bad thing. Run and hop give her more varied mobility, and also having access to roll for escapes is useful. Having consistent access to level 1 supers means she can anti-air and reversal with Shining Crystal Bit more. Still, her lack of damage overall means the usually offense oriented N-Groove just doesn't fit too well.

Worst - K/P: K-Athena gets the mobility of S-Athena, but the heavily rushdown based K-Groove just doesn't fit her runaway gameplan. While she does get some solid damage buffs, especially to her normals, she rarely gets to utilize her Shining Crystal Bit, and without a solid super punish Rage just doesn't work that well for her. K-Grooves lack of an escape option outside of JD hurts as well, and JD is usually more used to reversal into a punish, which she doesn't have. Keeping in mind how JD isn't too useful, P-Athena being at the bottom should be obvious. Parry means nothing with no good punish, and only having a level 3 Shining Crystal Bit once a round at best leaves her without one of her best utilities.


Athena is a neutral and runaway based character with some scary mixup potential against opponents who dont know her moveset. Low health, no real combo potential, bad defense, and a lack of any scary tools outside of her neutral holds her at the low tiers however. Athena is best in C, S, and A-Groove.

Difficulty: Medium
Tier: D
Pros Cons
  • Buttons: Athena's 2HP is an infamously annoying button to deal with, but many of her other normals are useful as well
  • Shining Crystal Bit: Shining Crystal Bit is a powerful instant anti-air and reversal, and Athena loves to have meter for it
  • Neutral: Between her useful buttons, great runaway, and surprisingly good fireball, Athena can wall opponents out in neutral very well
  • Mixups: With her teleport cancels, Athena can run a scary strike/throw mixup vs opponents who don't mash out
  • Low Health: Athena is in the lower health brackets, meaning a few mistakes spells the end of a round vs the high damage top tiers
  • No Combos: She has virtually no combos, with a majority of her specials whiffing after a cancel and neither of her supers being very combo friendly. What she does have is very low damage as well
  • Bad Defense: Psycho Sword isn't a real reversal, leaving her with only roll cancels to reversal with, and even then she lacks any solid one to use
  • Fake Mix: While her strike/throw is scary vs opponents who don't mash, the moment an opponent knows that Athena can't really do much off of a strike, they simply won't be scared of mashing or jumping and denying her mixup
  • Bad Offense: Without much to threaten in the way of plus frames or real blockstrings aside from using her fireball, and no real damage to back up her mixups, Athena's offense just isn't very scary



Players to Watch

Name Country Groove Accounts Notes
Tsugunosuke Japan N-Groove N/A Though not a mainstay on his team, Tsugunosuke has a very nasty Athena.
Sample Match



!!!THIS PAGE IS STILL A WIP. IF YOU NEED FRAME DATA NOW, REFER TO THE CVS2 BIBLE OR LOOK THROUGH EDIT HISTORY TO FIND THE LAST EDIT CONTAINING FRAME DATA IF THERE WAS ONE!!!

Normal Moves

Far Normals

5LP

Far Jab
Far Light Punch
5LP / Far LP
CVS2 Athena FarLP.png
Version Damage Stun Cancel Guard Parry Startup Active Recovery Total Adv Hit Adv Block Invul
Far Lp.png 200 2 SP/SU Mid High/Low 2 4 10 16 +3 +3 -

Placeholder

5MP

Far Strong
Far Medium Punch
5MP / Far MP
CVS2 Athena Far5MP.png
Version Damage Stun Cancel Guard Parry Startup Active Recovery Total Adv Hit Adv Block Invul
Far Mp.png 700 7 SU Mid High 6 8 14 28 0 0 -

Placeholder

5HP

Far Fierce
Far Heavy Punch
5HP / Far HP
CVS2 Athena Far5HP.png
Version Damage Stun Cancel Guard Parry Startup Active Recovery Total Adv Hit Adv Block Invul
Far Hp.png 1200 12 None Mid High 8 4 19 31 +3 +3 -

Placeholder

5LK

Far Short
Far Light Kick
5LK / Far LK
CVS2 Athena Far5LK.png
Version Damage Stun Cancel Guard Parry Startup Active Recovery Total Adv Hit Adv Block Invul
Far Lk.png 400 4 SU Mid High/Low 6 6 14 26 -3 -3 -

Placeholder

5MK

Far Forward
Far Medium Kick
5MK / Far MK
CVS2 Athena Far5MK.png
Version Damage Stun Cancel Guard Parry Startup Active Recovery Total Adv Hit Adv Block Invul
Far Mk.png 700 7 SU Mid High 6 4 20 30 -2 -2 -

Placeholder

5HK

Far Roundhouse
Far Heavy Kick
5HK / Far HK
CVS2 Athena Far5HK.png
Version Damage Stun Cancel Guard Parry Startup Active Recovery Total Adv Hit Adv Block Invul
Far Hk.png 1100 11 None Mid High 9 4 22 35 -2 -2 -

Placeholder

Close Standing Normals

clLP

Close Jab
Close Light Punch
cl.LP
CVS2 Athena clLP.png
Version Damage Stun Cancel Guard Parry Startup Active Recovery Total Adv Hit Adv Block Invul
Close Lp.png 200 2 SP/SU Mid High/Low 3 4 5 12 +7 +7 -

Placeholder

clMP

Close Strong
cl.MP
CVS2 Athena clMP.png
Version Damage Stun Cancel Guard Parry Startup Active Recovery Total Adv Hit Adv Block Invul
Close Mp.png 700 7 SP/SU Mid High 3 5 8 16 +9 +9 -

Placeholder

clHP

Close Fierce
Close Heavy Punch
cl.HP
CVS2 Athena clHP.png
Version Damage Stun Cancel Guard Parry Startup Active Recovery Total Adv Hit Adv Block Invul
Close Hp.png 1100 11 SP/SU Mid High 6 4 21 31 +1 +1 -

Placeholder

clLK

Close Short
Close Light Kick
cl.LK
CVS2 Athena clLK.png
Version Damage Stun Cancel Guard Parry Startup Active Recovery Total Adv Hit Adv Block Invul
Close Lk.png 500 5 SP/SU Mid High/Low 4 6 7 17 +4 +4 -

Placeholder

clMK

Close Forward
Close Medium Kick
cl.MK
CVS2 Athena clMK.png
Version Damage Stun Cancel Guard Parry Startup Active Recovery Total Adv Hit Adv Block Invul
Close Mk.png 800 8 SP/SU Mid High 5 8 9 22 +5 +5 -

Placeholder

clHK

Close Roundhouse
Close Heavy Kick
cl.HK
CVS2 Athena clHK.png
Version Damage Stun Cancel Guard Parry Startup Active Recovery Total Adv Hit Adv Block Invul
Close Hk.png 1100 11 SP/SU Mid High 5 8 15 28 +3 +3 -

Placeholder

Crouching Normals

2LP

Crouch Jab
Crouching Light Punch
2LP / cr.LP
CVS2 Athena 2LP.png
Version Damage Stun Cancel Guard Parry Startup Active Recovery Total Adv Hit Adv Block Invul
D.png+Lp.png 200 2 SP/SU Mid High/Low 3 4 9 16 +4 +4 -

Placeholder

2MP

Crouch Strong
Crouching Medium Punch
2MP / cr.MP
CVS2 Athena 2MP.png
Version Damage Stun Cancel Guard Parry Startup Active Recovery Total Adv Hit Adv Block Invul
D.png+Mp.png 700 7 SP/SU Mid High/Low 5 2 17 24 +1 +1 -

Placeholder

2HP

Crouch Fierce
Crouching Heavy Punch
2HP / cr.HP
CVS2 Athena 2HP.png
Version Damage Stun Cancel Guard Parry Startup Active Recovery Total Adv Hit Adv Block Invul
D.png+Hp.png 1200 12 SU Mid High/Low 5 8 17 30 +1 +1 -

Placeholder

2LK

Crouch Short
Crouching Light Kick
2LK / cr.LK
CVS2 Athena 2LK.png
Version Damage Stun Cancel Guard Parry Startup Active Recovery Total Adv Hit Adv Block Invul
D.png+Lk.png 200 2 SP/SU Low Low 3 5 6 12 +6 +6 -

Placeholder

2MK

Crouch Forward
Crouching Medium Kick
2MK / cr.MK
CVS2 Athena 2MK.png
Version Damage Stun Cancel Guard Parry Startup Active Recovery Total Adv Hit Adv Block Invul
D.png+Mk.png 800 8 None Low Low 8 8 11 27 +3 +3 -

Placeholder

2HK

Crouch Roundhouse
Crouching Heavy Kick
2HK / cr.HK
CVS2 Athena 2HK.png
Version Damage Stun Cancel Guard Parry Startup Active Recovery Total Adv Hit Adv Block Invul
D.png+Hk.png 1000 10 SU Low Low 6 4 34 44 DWN -14 -

Jumping Normals

j.LP

Jump Jab
Jumping Light Punch
j.LP
CVS2 Athena jLP.png
Version Damage Stun Cancel Guard Parry Startup Active Recovery Total Adv Hit Adv Block Invul
Ub.png/U.png/Uf.png+Lp.png 400 4 SP/SU High High 5 23 0 28 Varies Varies -

Placeholder

j.MP

Jump Strong
Jumping Medium Punch
j.MP
CVS2 Athena jMP.png
Version Damage Stun Cancel Guard Parry Startup Active Recovery Total Adv Hit Adv Block Invul
Ub.png/U.png/Uf.png+Mp.png 700 7 SP/SU High High 7 6 0 13 Varies Varies -

Placeholder

j.HP

Jump Fierce
Jumping Heavy Punch
j.HP
CVS2 Athena jHP.png
Version Damage Stun Cancel Guard Parry Startup Active Recovery Total Adv Hit Adv Block Invul
Ub.png/U.png/Uf.png+Hp.png 1000 10 SP/SU High High 6 6 0 12 Varies Varies -

Placeholder

j.LK

Jump Short
Jumping Light Kick
j.LK
CVS2 Athena jLK.png
Version Damage Stun Cancel Guard Parry Startup Active Recovery Total Adv Hit Adv Block Invul
Ub.png/U.png/Uf.png+Lk.png 500 5 SU High High 6 20 0 26 Varies Varies -

Placeholder

j.MK

Jump Forward
Jumping Medium Kick
j.MK
CVS2 Athena jMK.png
Version Damage Stun Cancel Guard Parry Startup Active Recovery Total Adv Hit Adv Block Invul
Ub.png/U.png/Uf.png+Mk.png 700 7 SU High High 6 8 0 14 Varies Varies -

Placeholder

j.HK

Jump Roundhouse
Jumping Heavy Kick
j.HK
CVS2 Athena jHK.png
Version Damage Stun Cancel Guard Parry Startup Active Recovery Total Adv Hit Adv Block Invul
Ub.png/U.png/Uf.png+Hk.png 1100 11 None High High 8 6 0 14 Varies Varies -

Placeholder

Command Normals

X

Renkan Tai
2 Hit Command Normal
F+MK
CVS2 Athena F+MK.png
1st Hitbox
CVS2 Athena F+MK2.png
2nd Hitbox
Version Damage Stun Cancel Guard Parry Startup Active Recovery Total Adv Hit Adv Block Invul
F.png+Mk.png 400+500 4+5 SU 1st Hit Mid High 6,9 3,3 24 45 DWN -7 -

Placeholder

j2MK

Phoenix Bomb
Peach Bomber
j.2MK
CVS2 Athena j2MK.png
Version Damage Stun Cancel Guard Parry Startup Active Recovery Total Adv Hit Adv Block Invul
Uf.png,D.png+Mk.png 800 8 None High High 8 20 0 (Landing) 8+ DWN - None

Command normal that bounces Athena back on Hit and Block allowing her to perform another jump attack.

Throws

XPsychic Throw

Psychic Throw
Punch Throw
Near Opponent, 4/6HP
CVS2 Athena Pthrow.png
Version Damage Stun Cancel Guard Parry Startup Active Recovery Total Adv Hit Adv Block Invul
Close B.png/F.png+Hp.png 1600 0 None Grab Grab 3 1 13 17 DWN Grab None

Placeholder

Bit Throw

Bit Throw
Kick Throw
Near Opponent, 4/6HK
CVS2 Athena KThrow.png
Version Damage Stun Cancel Guard Parry Startup Active Recovery Total Adv Hit Adv Block Invul
Close B.png/F.png+Hk.png 1800 0 None Grab Grab 5 1 13 19 DWN Grab None

Placeholder

Psychic Shoot

Psychic Shoot
Air Punch Throw
In Air and Near Opponent, 4/6HP
CVS2 Athena AirPThrow.png
CVS2 Athena AirPThrow2.png
Version Damage Stun Cancel Guard Parry Startup Active Recovery Total Adv Hit Adv Block Invul
In Air and Close B.png/F.png+Hp.png 1800 0 None Grab Grab 0 1 0 1 DWN Grab None

Athena spins in the air and kicks her opponent to the ground

Colors

Athena CvS2 colors.png


CvS2 Wiki Navigation

General
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Notation
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Glossary
System
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CvS2 Versions
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FAQ
Grooves
Groove Overview
Groove Subsystems
C-Groove
A-Groove
P-Groove
S-Groove
N-Groove
K-Groove
Capcom Characters
Akuma (Gouki)
Balrog (Boxer)
Blanka
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Maki
M. Bison (Dictator)
Morrigan
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Yun
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SNK Characters
Athena
Benimaru
Chang
Geese
Haohmaru
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Joe
Kim
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Kyo
Mai
Nakoruru
Raiden
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Todo
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Boss Characters
Shin Akuma
Ultimate Rugal
Evil Ryu
Orochi Iori