Strategy:
When playing Avdol you are going to be looking to use your strong normals to dominate the neutral game. Utilizing them and your decent zoning and oki game can be enough to put someone down.
Normals
Details on his most important normals:
5B - Mainly a combo tool, hitbox isnt too great to use it as a poke;
5C - Ok whiff punish, combos at most ranges into command grab. Not as good as 6C for poking, whiffs slower and moves forward;
2A - Better as a tic than 5A and has combo applications. Hits low. Unfortunately it's not even comparable in strength to other top tiers' 2As. Its range is also deceivingly small, the hitbox does not actually extend on Avdol's hand;
2B - Good normal for building meter, and it's the normal you want to use to confirm into tandem. If timed right, you can punish Kakyoin's s.2C because of how fast it is even when done dashing. 6 frames startup, 6 active, +4 on block, +9 on hit, meaning you have a plethora of options out of it. When pushblocked instantly it is -4 at worst. Where Magician's Red appears, there actually is a pretty big hurtbox, so not that great of an anti-air. Not a low;
2C - Also 6 frames startup, 5 active, +7 on block, at worst -5 when pushblocked instantly, so it can be blockstringed into itself and from 2B is the opponent lets you. One of your more abusable normals, as it whiff extremely fast too. Not a low;
665C - Safe on block dashing poke that you can cancel into command grab for a combo even at max range. If you don't have bar for a tandem, this is your go-to normal to capitalize on random standcrashes. Worth noting is that because of how it moves Avdol when canceling into hitgrab, your opponent ends up falling further away than normal at ranges farther than point blank, making juggles slightly less consistent;
663B - Same as 2B, but with worse links. Incredible whiff punish tool. Sadly, not a low;
663C - Same as 2C, but actually punishable when pushblocked, so be careful. Not a low;
j.C - Not as strong as it looks in both combo potential and hitbox. Has to be hit really close to the ground to combo out of it;
6C - Active frames the button. Easy to whiff punish, otherwise a great poke. Highest damage combo normal. Also does a whopping 20 stand gauge damage, making it ideal for standcrashing;
s.5A - Fast, ok as antiair, fantastic confirm into chains. Useful to interrupt strings after pushblocking. Whiffs on some crouching characters;
s.5B: Your main poking tool when you are in stand on. Great whiff punish, outpokes most normals in the game, for example it beats out all of Kakyoin's normals. Not a bad tech chase option and far anti-air. Optimal normal to use to cancel into Crossire Hurricane. -7 on block, -6 on hit;
s.5C - Reasonably good poke, but needs to be used at its max range, as it is quite slow compared to other normals. -9 on block even when out of a chain, but high pushback;
s.2A - Timbs normal n1. Incredibly long and disjointed hitbox for a low A, actually a nice normal to interrupt the opponent's strings when s.5A would whiff. Easy chain into s.5B at all ranges where it hits.;
s.2B - Hitbox can hit opponents behind Avdol, not bad to throw out when the opponent is trying to roll around close to you if you dont feel like risking a whiffed s.5C. Tons of active frames. Hard to outpoke but easy to whiff punish. On hit can be chained on reaction to s.2C. Very useful as an easy meaty to stuff wakeup buttons/supers and get frame advantage if hit deep in its active frames. For some reason when you do it Magician's Red loses his upper body hurtbox (but not the head one) making it possible to let some projectiles go through you, but it is not very useful;
s.2C - Hitbox isn't as good as it looks, unreliable as anti-air. Your main chain finisher if your s.5B whiffs on a crouching opponent, and it is minus on hit just like s.5C, except it doesn't push the opponent as far, creating an akward situation;
s.665B - THE Timbs. 2 hits, comboable from both into command grab on reaction. Useful to close the distance if spaced properly. It is only -1 on block/hit, and whiffs fast enough that it is hard to punish if pushblocked;
s.665C - Cancelable s.5C. Not as unsafe but still minus on block AND hit. Ideally you want to cancel this into something, but it is sub-par to other normals unless you have a confirm into tandem, at which point it is your most consistent tandem starter as it works from further away than your other buttons;
s.663C - Better as antiair than s.2C because of the extra momentum. Unlike s.2C, it is at worst -1, and has enough active frames (6) to become much more + when hit spaced/deep, even enough to link out of. Great dash-in as it is as fast as your other good ones and can leave at better frame advantage than them, as well as having a better hitbox for catching jumpouts and counter hitting normals;
j.s.C - Very abusable jump-in/air to air, especially if the opponent is higher in the air than Avdol, but not as good as it looks: does not do great if the opponent uses a faster jumping normal or a good grounded antiair. Needs to be properly spaced.
s.6A - Avdol's most consistent close anti-air. Tall hitbox, the hand has no hurtbox, but whiffs on most if not all crouching opponents. Better than s.5A in some combo contexts;
s.4B - Awesome antiair, cleanly beats most jump-ins. 3 hits, does not allow the opponent to air tech immediately like most of Avdol's normals, making is safe. Useful to stop jumpouts, but whiffs on most crouching opponents. Safe on block;
Anti-airing
Anti-airing properly is key with in Avdol's neutral game. 5A and s.5A are fast and can be used to hit the opponent out of the air if you cross under them. Dashing low attacks can hit the opponent on their way down, especially 663C: 663B has a worse hitbox but allows you to cancel on reaction to a hit into tandem. s.2C doesn't work too well in my experience, but it is ok when done out of a dash. His s.623+A is also important to learn how to use, as it's very consistent, fast, and is sometimes the only good option against strong jump-in buttons. j.s.C is extremely effective at dissuading jumps as air to air, but it isn't unstoppable, and needs to be spaced to make effective use of it: a nice way to do so is by hopping in stand off, turn stand on mid-air then press C, to use the shorter stand off jump arc. Learn to organically switch from stand on to stand off for poking, zoning and varied anti-airs. s.623+A, s.4B, s.5B and s.6A are the most consistent anti-airs Avdol has, which makes him kind of special in a game with a general lack of strong grounded anti-airs, which translated means use them lots, as many people aren't used to dealing with them and will jump in recklessly. You will have to find out which anti-air works best in which situation/matchup, but know that you have at least one that will succeed.
Using Crossfire Hurricane
Avdol's Crossfire fireball is very strong, the stand off version can be chased in really fast, and can lead to tricky empty jump mixups. The best way to set it up is a cancel after a 5C or 6C (beware that canceling form 6C can give accidental cancels into his 623+A/B/C) simply followed by a hop or hyper hop. From stand on his options become a little worse but he's safer when he cancels into it. Both in stand off and in stand on, the A version is SIGNIFICANTLY better than B or C, as it has a deceivingly fast recovery, allowing you to block jump-ins/anti-air when used for zoning, or potentially follow it up as it connects. s.5A > s.5B, s.2A > s.5B, s.6A > s.5B, or just s.5B all allow you to relatively safely cancel into A Crossfire to then use:
- A walk up chain/s.5B into another Crossfire
- A standing poke
- Combos using dashing normals
If the opponent has low stand gauge, you can react and plan your string so that your next attack will stand crash and follow up with any stand crash combo you want. This also allows you to catch people who would guard cancel your full ABC chain, as most guard cancels do not reach or go through the fireball. Be wary of characters that can hit you out of the fireball or can duck under the fireball altogether, as they can often just sweep under it and hit you. Also worth mentioning, if the opponent predicts the fireball they can pushblock accordingly and jump over it, allowing for a clean hit, but often not a combo: be prepared to bait and punish such jumps by simply not canceling to anti-air them, or by completing the ABC chain.
Using Flame Sensor
Avdol's 214+A special may be his best neutral tool, as it controls space and limits the opponent's escape options so well it's easy to cheat out combos from impatient players. It can be used pretty well against most characters to get overhead/empty jump low/empty jump grab mixups. Great ways to use it safely is after some s.236+As from a reasonably long range, after a 236+AA super, after a 2C knockdown using the C input to negative edge the cancel, after a throw on most characters if they do not tech into you, etc. Once its out, it forces the opponent to respect it, as it puts you in an advantageous defensive position, allowing you to build meter for free, close in for a low/hop j.A/s.j.A mixup, or make your opponent overextend to hit you and delete the Sensor to then interrupt them with the mine and get a combo out of the deal. The sensor can be stopped and even snuffed out if the opponent hits it, but when they try that, when you are close enough you can tandem on reaction which will cause it to detonate while the opponent is in hitstop, making the tandem combo. I can't stress enough how good this special is. What i say here barely even scratches the surface of the potential this special move has. USE IT!
Using Red Heat Ankh
Same can be said of his 623+AA super, as their purpose as a deterrent is similar, but the super does more damage, does not guarantee a grounded combo, and does loads of chip damage/stand gauge damage on block: be careful though as it can be guard canceled with ease. You can use it as a simple get off me card by abusing the free i-frames you get by setting it in stand on, to then interrupt the opponent with a normal, possibly giving you a combo into hitgrab or throw, which both cancel the set trap at no cost in meter. Worth mentioning it can be used to surprise with its super flash to scare the opponent into rolling or blocking, giving you easy throw setups.
This super can be used as an extremely safe oki option. Setting up the ankh on top of the opponent allows you to go for anything you like as wake up pressure, as you can easily release the button for the trap and get instant i-frames if the opponent tries to do something on wakeup: simply wait and release the trap on reaction to a super or tandem. Be careful not to get hit by mashed out normals though. Even if you haven't recovered in time for a meaty when they wake up, you will still have i-frames from the placing animation. Again, getting a throw or a hitgrab deletes the Ankh, letting you scare your opponent without even spending meter.
It also allows you to threaten a better throw: the release has 7 frames of startup post-flash, meaning using it gives you enough time to hit 6C/4C, raising the damage as the ankh can hit the opponent as they get thrown, and giving you an untechable launch as if only the super hit. This slightly telegraphs the throw, making it easier to tech, BUT the ankh can hit them as they flip out. This is really hard to escape, let alone get a hit on Avdol.
It also triggers a double death animation if you kill with the super before the throw deals damage.
Using Remote Mode
Remote Control is often overlooked because of its drawbacks, but frankly it makes all of Avdol's options infinitely better other than jumping too high. His walk speed becomes ridiculous, giving him a surprise factor that shouldn't be underestimated: as a result all pressure strings become better on block, and allow new combos on hit.
214+C and 623+AA are ok ways to setup remote mode with 6+AA or j.236+A, thanks to the fact that the opponent will most likely be more defensive. This way you can bait them into overextending to reach Avdol and hit them with a tandem (which gives you i-frames and makes Magicians' Red get all the way back), the aforementioned specials or a throw. Cancels into crossfire now combo more reliably into walk up s.5A/s.6A/s.2A chains which can go into more crossfires or hitgrab. It is also possible to grab the opponent out of early pushblocks of the fireball, creating a nasty situation to deal with.
Be VERY careful to anti air properly the opponent after a throw, by walking back to Avdol and using s.6A, s.5B and s.4B to hit them out of the air and more grabs to drive them away from him. s.623+A still works perfectly, but you want to use the A version only. If after an anti-air the opponent can neutral tech into Avdol, the safest option is to cancel your anti-air into tandem, or to simply tandem, and input a s.6A and follow with a j.C. The mixups and zoning with 214+A and 623+AA also become exponentially stronger, even though converting into tandem in general becomes much much harder. Always and i mean ALWAYS throw the opponent away from Avdol.
It is most important that as soon as you smell a dangerous situation you tandem or press S to call back your stand, because the risk is NOT worth taking. That being said a desperate player with very low health can be KO'd with a trade if they don't use a stand attack to knock you out of remote mode immediately. Magicians's red will mostly be able to move and attack even if Avdol is getting hit. Some air normals unfortunately have big hitboxes that can go right over him, never allowing him to block attacks for Avdol unless he is right on top of him; these attacks often are stand normals that end remote in an instant, making you suffer extra damage. Be wary of these as they can mean a quick death.
Note that in remote mode, the stand gauge damage you take is halfed on hit but doubled on block, so things that normally would not stand crash you on block, in remote mode do, and viceversa on hit. Example: Rubber Soul's 236+AA super.
Note that in remote, supers that give i-frames only make Magician's Red invulnerable, so if you use one to go through a projectile special/super, it will most likely still reach Avdol.
BE VERY CAREFUL AS SOME CHARACTERS HAVE EVEN METERLESS OPTIONS TO THREATEN AVDOL REGARDLESS OF SCREEN POSITION (ex:Vanilla Ice, DIO and Midler)
